Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin! I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it a hundred more!!

Hello, my amazing readers!! This is pt. 3 of "Bring Back the Memories Once More." I've had a lot of fun writing this modern-au continuation because it's very different from stories I usually write. For my fans of songfics, get ready, because once I finish this modern-au storyline, I have another story in my head just waiting to be written! Also, thank you so much for 6,000+ reads!!!!!!

Previously:

Arthur merely shrugged and grabbed Excalibur, which had been resting on the ground next to him.

"No worries, it'll be just like before. Side by side, taking down evil threats to the kingdom."

Despite the warlock's morning being ruined by the news report, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Now that you know about my magic, I won't have to hold back." Merlin grinned widely as he met Arthur's eyes, who grinned back.

"This is gonna be fun."

Present:

"WHY DID EVOLUTION INCLUDE LIGHTNING INSIDE METAL WIRES?" Arthur yelled out while he was fighting a monster. Merlin only grunted as he was fighting off another monster. At first, it was just random failures of technology and magical creatures appearing. Nothing that couldn't be easily solved. But then it started getting weirder. As technology started shutting down, magic started acting up. Magic would take buildings, telephone wires, and other things and mash them together. It would control them, spiking electricity in the cables and using them as arms. They were much harder to take down and control, especially when a certain prat insists on using a sword instead of something a little more helpful. Something like...a grenade. Or rocket launcher. Or something.

Merlin finally destroyed his monster with his magic and turned to Arthur. The king was still fighting, though his monster seemed to be injured, if that was cracks in its cement skin and wires unmoving on the ground counted for "injured". 

"Duck!" Merlin called out. Arthur immediately rolled off to the side. The beast of machinery moved sluggishly to grab Arthur, giving the warlock the perfect advantage. 

"bryneleóma!" He called out, holding his hand out towards it. A beam of powerful energy shot out and hit the monster in its side, contacting the magic inside it and killing it. The magic in it shuddered and vanished, and everything that made up the beast fell to the ground, lifeless once more.

Merlin walked over and inspected the damage. He closed his eyes and chanted a spell, causing all of the rubble to go back to their original spots and fixing all of the buildings that were caught in the crossfire. By the time he opened his eyes, everything was as if it never happened. He looked around until he spotted Arthur. The Pendragon was watching him with awed eyes. He does that every time he has the chance to see Merlin do magic.

"Alright, admiring time is over. We need to go before the military shows up. Or worse, someone with a phone who records us."

Arthur nodded and held out his hand. Merlin grabbed it, teleporting them back to his house next to the lake.

Arthur set his sword down and went over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and started fixing them chocolate milk (once he got a taste of it, it became obsessed with it). Merlin, on the other hand, sat on his couch and thought. He knew it was hopeless getting Arthur to use anything but Excalibur. However, a sword, even as powerful as his, is weak against something with the skin of rock and metal. It also did little for the completely digital monsters, made of zeros and ones, traveling through the internet, and creating massive power surges that blow up laboratories and manufactories. 

"I know that face. Mind telling me what you're thinking about, Merls?" Arthur said as he set the drinks the table in front of the couch and sat next to him. Merlin sighed and took the drink, mumbling a "thank you" after taking a sip.

"I'm just trying to figure out how to help you in battle. You only want to use the sword, but Excalibur can only do so much. I need to find a way so you're happy and you won't die."

Arthur hummed in response while practically chugging his drink down. When he finished, he had a little chocolate mustache on his lips. Merlin lightly chuckled when he saw it. Arthur smiled seeing the warlock laugh as he wiped the milk off of his face.

"Well, why can't you just enchant the sword?"

Merlin shook his head. "It's...not that simple, Arthur. I had a dragon enchant your sword for me last time."

Arthur merely scoffed, not even questioning the dragon bit. "And? That was a thousand years ago when we were still young. When you still didn't know even a speck of your power. Well, you've had a thousand years of practice, creating entirely new spells as people invented new things. You're the living embodiment of magic. If anyone can do it, I know it's you."

Merlin could only stare at Arthur in shock. His heart swelled in warmth as he heard him say that. He still couldn't believe that not only did Arthur accept his magic, but trusted in him, even encouraged him to use it. It meant more to the raven-haired boy than the king could ever know.

"I'll try," Merlin said softly, taking the sword and holding it in front of him, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. He took a deep breath and imagined the enchanted sword in his mind. Slowly, he began to chant.

"bredan þes begól beadoméce æt ealddóm"

The sword glowed and levitated, and both Merlin and Arthur waiting anxiously to see what would happen. Almost anti-climatically, it simply seemed to glitch like a computer screen and drop to the ground. No explosions or sparkles in the air. Both of the men were silent for a few moments, processing what happened.

"What'd you say, Merls?" Arthur finally asked, eyes still focused on his beloved Excalibur.

"Transform this sword into the likes of the new age."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," started Merlin, picking up the sword, "I think your sword has new powers besides slaying the undead."

The sword "glitched" again. Part of it turned into columns of speeding zeros and ones, before returning to its normal iron form.

"No. Way," Merlin whispered near-silently. 

"What? What does that mean?"

Merlin walked over to the television and thrust the sword into its screen. Instead of a shattered TV, the screen simple to ripple like waves in a pond from a raindrop. The sword turned into what he could describe as a physical code, just speeding numbers in the shape of a sword.

"Merlin, mind explaining to me what the hell did you do to my sword?"

Merlin was too excited to answer. He just did something that had never been done before. He combined science and technology with fantasy. Magic.

Suddenly he understood. Science and Magic are just like Merlin and Arthur. They are two sides of the same coin. They were destined to work together as humans continued to advance throughout the centuries. However, when Uther's reign of undeserving murders started, magic took a devastating hit. It became sick, and desperate to make sure it could live on and one day heal, it made a deal with Destiny. After all, Destiny had predicted this moment long before Camalot had even raised its flag. So, magic had a child. A boy who could one day meet a prince and save magic, along with humanity. Magic hadn't gone haywire with turning buildings and technology into monsters, it was trying to send them a message.

It's time for magic to come back, and it can't be done without its other half. Without science.

Guias would be proud.

Merlin turned to Arthur, who was patiently waiting for an answer.

"I know what we need to do."

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Arthur and Merlin were walking to the area that used to be the Vally of the Fallen Kings. Most of it was gone now, but the Crystal Cave remained untouched by humanity's evolution.

"So...what, exactly, are we doing?" Arthur asked.

Merlin sighed. He didn't know how much Arthur would be able to understand, seeing how he never watched the change in behavior of people over time.

"As technology continues to advance, the lives of people adjust to it. Merely two hundred years ago,  people still walked around their village, talking to the nobles or brewing up a soup from their gardens. Life was faster than our time, but still at a steady pace. Now, however, things are different. People move so quickly in their lives that they often can't just stop and observe nature, or perhaps hold a steady conversation with a stranger. They just don't have the time. Time, that is consumed by science and its machines. I'm not saying science is bad, it's a wonderful thing! It's just that people have lost what it feels like to live. Sure, they could be happy and live a good life, but they always move so fast that they never stop and just look at all of their achievements. In almost every culture, only the elderly do it when they ready themselves for Death."

"...Okayyyyyy. But what, exactly, are we doing?" Arthur said, repeating his question from before.

"We going to 'reboot' science with a touch of magic. How we do that is by taking a crystal from the cave, and, using your sword, insert it into the internet. The internet is all over, and when the crystal enters its system, it will begin to seep into the minds of everyone, and magic will be able to properly return."

Arthur let that sink in for a moment, but then shrugged. "Nope, still don't get it. Just tell me what to do when I need to do it."

"Fair enough."

Suddenly Arthur stopped moving and stood as still as a statue. Merlin was confused until he watched Arthur silently put his fingers to his lips. He stood still and listened.

It was quiet...

Thump, thump, thump.

Footsteps, though not from a human. They were heavy and slow, sometimes hearing a "snap" here and there. The thumping was getting slowly louder, revealing that whoever, or whatever it was, it was heading their way.

Merlin quickly turned to Arthur. 

"The cave isn't far from here. If we hurry, I might be able to seal us in before that thing, whatever it is, doesn't make it to us."

As soon as the king nodded, the men bolted as fast as they could toward the cave. Even as they ran as fast as their legs could carry them, the footsteps seemed to only get closer.

"I see the cave!" Merlin yelled. They ran even faster, so close to safety, just a little farther...

"WATCH OUT!" Arthur screamed, tackling Merlin to the ground as a fully grown tree flew only inches above their heads, slamming into the rock and blocking their way into the cave. As they turned to face their attacker, they looked up to see the biggest techno-magic monster they've seen.

It stood over 30 meters high (A/N: about 100 feet), easily taller than every tree in the area. Its body was made of both Earth and buildings. Its arms were massive cable wires sparking with magic-induced electricity. Its feet were tree trunks with random pieces of metal lodged into them. They almost looked like tentacles. The worst part was its face. Instead of having a head, its face was on its chest. 

"A blemmyae..." Merlin muttered, astonished.

Arthur, on the other hand, looked like he was going to throw up.

"That," he said with a disgusted tone, "is one hideous creature." 

The blemmyae seemed to take offense to that comment, because it roared at them, raising its arms getting ready to swing.

"RUN!"

The king and warlock dived on opposite sides as the wire-arms came down, electrifying the area. Arthur ran around behind it, scouting out weak areas. Merlin, on the other hand, faced the beast head-on. He's do anything to keep its attention off of Arthur. He couldn't lose him again. He couldn't.

"Aye, you big ugly giant! What's it like having your ears in the same place as your armpits?"

The blemmyae made some strange yell and advanced toward him, swinging its tentacle-arms. He threw up a shield around him, but the electricity was so powerful that the hairs on his neck stood up.

Arthur took his chance and shoved his sword into its heel, and the beast let out a bone-shattering scream.  All of its attention turned to the king. Arthur was running, dodging, but he wouldn't be able to avoid its tentacles much longer.

Merlin raced over to him, yelling every enchantment in the book at the blemmyae in hopes to get it off of Arthur's back. When Arthur ran in between its legs and behind it, Merlin was relieved. However, it soon vanished as a wire grabbed him, lifting him into the air right in front of its face. It pulsed powerful waves of electricity into him, causing him to cry in pain. He couldn't focus so he could escape; all he could feel was pain.

As his vision started to blackout, he saw a figure climb up the blemmyae and shove something shiny into its head. Next thing he knew, he was falling.

He thought he heard someone near him, but he couldn't make it out well as his ears were ringing louder than a banshee's shriek. "Mer.......ke up!.........ease........I ca...lose you..."

Gradually, his ears stopped ringing and his vision wasn't so dotty. He looked up to see a crying king next to him.

"....'teh hellth you crying overs, prhat?" Merlin said, words slurred.

"Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed happily. "I thought you were dead!"

Merlin smiled and replied, the slur gone now. "I feel like Death himself, but I don't know if he'd think that as a compliment."

Arthur chuckled while he pulled Merlin up off the ground and into a hug. He smiled, hugging him back. 

After assuring Arthur that he was alive and well, Merlin led the Once and Future King into the cave (after effortlessly levitating the tree from the entrance and restoring it into the ground where it came from).

The cave radiated ancient power as they made their way towards the crystals. Arthur looked like a little kid, oogle-eyeing the pure majesticness of the cave. Merlin, however, was paranoid. Paranoid that the crystals would call him forward, forcing him to see a horrible future where he fails once again. When they reached the heart of the cave where the crystals rested, he was almost tempted to shut his eyes closed and wander blindly. That was until he felt a difference in the cave. It wasn't calling to him like before, telling him to look. Instead, it was just a gentle hum of magic. It almost seemed it was waiting for them to take a crystal and leave, no questions asked. Merlin guessed it made sense. Magic was done letting Destiny toy around with its children. It was sick, and it needed Arthur and Merlin to save it.

Merlin slowly approached a crystal, ready to pull it out, but hesitated. He was scared pulling it out would unleash a horrible curse.

Arthur placed a hand on his shoulder. "Go ahead," he whispered. "I can feel the magic all around us. I don't think it's going to attack us if we take it. I think it wants us to."

Merlin nodded, determination filling his mind. With a swift pull, the crystal popped off. It glowed for a moment, but after that, it looked like any other massive crystal. 

Merlin pulled out his phone and placed it on the ground. He put the crystal on top of it and stood back. He looked at Arthur, who waited for instructions.

"Arthur, all you have to do is wait until your sword looks like glowing green numbers again, and then thrust it onto the crystal and into my phone. This will transfer magic into science and the internet, and magic will be able to slowly return into the minds of everyone around the world."

Arthur nodded, readying his sword. Merlin raised his hand and activated the spell that he formally enchanted onto Excalibur. Arthur brought his sword down, and there was a bright flash. The crystal was gone, but Merlin's phone remained miraculously unharmed. The air felt different. It felt...lighter. Healthier. Merlin felt lighter himself. Like some sort of weight that he had since birth was suddenly gone.

They did it. Magic has returned. Merlin turned to Arthur, who was waiting for his reaction. 

"We did it."

Arthur whooped with joy as Merlin laughed excitedly. They returned to the warlock's home, watching as people all over the world started sharing stories of unicorn spotting and magical people called druids. They knew tomorrow would be another day, a day with new challenges. Instead of simply uniting Albion into a land of magic, they were going to unite the world. But, for now, they were happy just chilling on the couch, drinking chocolate milk and joking about old times.

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Wow. This was a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng chapter. I hope I didn't make the plot too confusing. It made sense in my head, but I'm not sure if I wrote it out well. This marks the end of the modern-au continuation. Like I said at the beginning, this was so much fun writing and all of your support has made it worthwhile times a thousand. You guys are so amazing, and I love you all so much!!!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day/night!!!