Work Text:
Someday Albion would need Arthur again.
Before the serpent—
Before Mordred—
Before that damned cave—
Merlin worked a great magic to ensure the land would one day again have her king. The spell would ensure Arthur (and Merlin, since he did not trust Arthur to keep himself alive in any age without him around) would reincarnate life after life, regaining their memories of Camelot only when the need was greatest.
Under decent circumstances (a quiet-ish day during an eclipse), the spell would have worked perfectly.
However, attempting the spell while sick with Arthur bellowing from the courtyard and Gwen whispering through the door that he needed to move and now if he'd intended on hiding from Arthur for the duration of his illness, though honestly, the squirrel tail had been rather cute and it wasn't like anyone outside of them and the knights had seen—
Well, Merlin should have realized it would end in disaster.
They still reincarnated, unaware, age after age. Only, instead of 'they' meaning only him and Arthur, 'they' apparently comprised everyone. He'd also mangled the memory trigger. Merlin was just surprised it had taken them this long to all wake up.
Someday Albion would need Arthur again.
But not yet.
Enduring Legends is a joint writing project between Cinaed and Ailelie. This is an Advent series, which means daily updates. This story is also written in real time, so each date in the fic matches the date in real time. If an installment is a flashback (there will be four), then that day is simply not covered within the series.
This story is an ensemble slice-of-life and will contain male and female friendships, het, slash, parent-child relationships, stand-in fathers, happiness, worry, and love.
This is not Arthur's great return. This is that one time Merlin's botching of the spell (or Arthur's concentration-piercing yelling) made them reincarnate and regain their memories in America (of all places).
Character List
(In order of mention; primaries only)
Gwendolyn Smith
Elliot Smyth
Ambrose Carmarthen
David Lake
Arthur W. Penn IX
Adam Keyes
Gavin Greene
Elle Goodwin
Percy Woods
Anna Isles
Each time a character starts to remember, we'll include one of these graphics.