Work Text:
We'll Meet Again
The lights had been dimmed, and smoke hung heavy in the air. The band struck up another tune.
”I'll wait a century or two,
I'll wait five hundred years for you.
I'll wait millennia, my dear -
When you return, I will be here....”
The singer on the small stage was caressing his microphone, crooning seductively. He was lean and tall and wore a smart dinner jacket, his dark hair falling across the forehead of a pale and handsome face.
Morgana regarded him steadily, tapping ash off her cigarette in its ivory holder. She had recognized him immediately. What irony that this had become his signature song, once he'd decided to pass himself off as an artist! His audiences always craved “The long wait” from the man with the magical voice.
The crowd on the dance floor was large and posh. Sequins and silk dresses shimmered as the many couples held each other tight, moving slowly to the music.
She had spotted Gwen and Lancelot out there moments ago. Recently she ran into Gaius on the street. All of them were re-appearing now from across centuries and space, gathering in this place and at this time.
It had to be a sign.
They always were unaware of their previous reincarnations, while she herself remembered every one of her lives vividly. Maybe her magic made her different in this; - her gift of Sight.
Merlin remembered too, of course. But unlike her he'd never died. He lived on, watching the rest of them reappearing and passing away, time after time as the long centuries rolled by. He'd never stopped waiting and longing for the only one who never returned; his once and future king and lover, who slept the ages away in misty Avalon.
How tired Merlin had to be! Where did he find the strength to keep hope alive?
She nodded absentmindedly to a comment from her date for the evening, a charming man who once walked the earth with a grin and a swagger as Sir Gwaine. He was back in the army now. Most of the knights were.
Morgana pondered the news. War seemed inescapable. The world could go up in flames. Her nightmares were filled with screams, explosions and billowing smoke.
She determinedly pushed all the horrible visions away, forcing herself to focus on the music and Merlin's enchanting performance.
Suddenly he fell silent mid-song. She saw his eyes going impossibly wide, his face turning ashen, and his knees nearly buckling. Premonition turned to certainty in her heart as she followed his eyes and looked towards the entrance.
A tall and good-looking man in RAF uniform had just entered, exuding casual strength and smiling down at a pretty blonde girl – Vivian? - on his arm. He removed his cap, and a stray light-beam made his golden hair glow.
Morgana gasped in dismay. She would have to choose sides now. The worst of times was upon them. Their need was even greater than she'd understood.
Arthur had returned.