[If this is the end, I hope that you will never keep me in your memory again]

……

At the end of the day, when West arrived at Lake Avalon, he saw Merlin crying as he hugged Arthur's cold body, and his expression was desperate like never before.

The boy was silent for a moment, and slowly stepped forward with blood covered in blood.

This result is actually not unexpected. But thinking about it doesn't mean that he can really accept it.

Especially, when seeing Merlin's frighteningly red eyes.

He didn't know what had happened to Camelot, so much so that Arthur had decided to go for it within two days. He wasn't sure if Avalon had trapped him and Merlin in the Ukiyo Forest for the sake of the beginning of his fate. The only thing he understands is that it was he who took the mage away from the king, it was he who insisted on seeking his own liberation, and he had already made up his mind to defend it to the end, but after all, he inadvertently contributed to Arthur's death.

-- It's not difficult to admit this.

The boy believed that it was not only himself, but that from discovering Arthur on a solo expedition to his journey to the sword fence all the way, Merlin had definitely regretted why he was not by the king's side.

But he wouldn't blame him for that, West knew it all too well. After all, Merlin has always been like this, and even if Arthur's death is indeed partly due to this, the mage will only resent his own mistakes and powerlessness.

On the other hand, this is also a reason to make him feel more guilty.

――So, in the end, I'm still in debt, right?

A little sad and a little reluctant, West sighed softly. In the script of history, the story of the Eternal King has come to an end, and his soul should go to Avalon, where it will lie under the cemetery prepared for him. As for the mage, his mission has not succeeded or failed - as Emmores, he has finally brought magic back to Camelot. But as Merlin, he lost his girl, his best friend, and his king one after another...... At such a high price, he finally lost to the fate that dominated him.

It's not fair.

Even if you don't go out of your way to look at the teacher's sad expression, the despair that pervades the air is still poisonous. Little by little, the medicine seeped into the bottom of West's eyes. For the first time in decades, he hated himself so much for being a psychic person. Standing by Merlin's side was sad enough, but he could still empathize with him even more, so much so that all his mental defenses were destroyed in an almost instant, and his entire soul was exposed to the air, burned by the flames of pain endlessly.

- He knew how much Merlin cared about Arthur...... He knew it from the beginning.

And he cares about Merlin just as much, even a hundred times more strongly than Merlin cares about Arthur. For a person who once lived as if he was dead, finding emotional refuge again is no less than gaining a second life. It was only when he saw Merlin that he had the courage to break free from the past, so he was willing to give his part, as long as he could not let the man show such a heartbroken expression.

"Merlin."

Pausing in front of the mage, he called out so quietly. Although it only takes a second to make a decision, it still takes a thousand struggles to convince yourself to really let go and face this one-sided parting.

"Sue me, what do you feel now?"

- West Xavier's psychic abilities have unparalleled potential. As long as he "assimilates consciousness" with the other party, then, no matter what, even an illusory energy body like time can be manipulated by him.

Mu Ran raised his head, his red and swollen eyes barely making out the outline of the young man's silence. Merlin was silent for a long, long time, until the chirping of insects around him had ceased and the night sky had begun to turn hazy gray, and he finally opened his mouth, and the sound spread in the dawn, and then, with the wind.

"I felt my fate."

"The kind of fate that even if you already know the result, even if you give everything, you are still powerless to change it."

- Sure enough.

As if being stabbed by a knife into the softest place in his heart, the boy gently closed his eyes. In Merlin's desperate and unconscious tone, he seemed to be able to see from the mage that he was once himself, also of average age, and also the person he most unwilling to lose in his life, all thoughts were lost, as if he had been exiled from the whole world from now on.

"Look at me, magician."

Without any superfluous movements, West just stood still as the time that flowed around him gradually stopped moving forward. The wails before the shattering of the laws of time were heard from all directions, like the burning karmic fires of hell. In those blue eyes, which were as silent as the deep sea, scenes of time were broken down and retraced, like a movie playing backwards, and even the shadow of death was expelled from the Eternal King little by little.

All the wounds he had suffered were healed by his power, and all the blood that had been shed was re-gushing in every corner of his body. West kept reshaping Arthur's time, turning his vital signs back to before the expedition, to a time when there was hope. For him, no matter how terrible the price of resurrection, as long as the heart of the Eternal King could still beat, as long as Merlin stopped crying over his fate, the madness he stubbornly unleashed was not meaningless.

'You are trampling on the dignity of the ancient religion, hermit! ’

In the raging temporal storm, certain hysterical questions are particularly clear. Even if you don't look back, you can know how angry the expression of the so-called three-faced goddess who weaves fate must be, West smiled lightly, and his brows were full of gentleness that let go of the burden.

"Ancient religion is history. I brought Arthur back to life, and both he and Merlin have broken free from the prison you have set up, and even gods can no longer interfere with their fate. ”

"- You lost."

'No, we don't! ’

The voice suddenly became sharp, like the last stubborn resistance, and the voice of the three-faced goddess was full of resentment and malice:

'West Xavier! You think you've changed your fate, but you don't know that you've fulfilled it in another way. ’

'Amoris must be judged for his abandonment of the ancient religion. You saved Arthur Pendragon, but excluded yourself from this world forever, and although Amoris has never lost the Eternal King, he will eventually lose you forever, suffer forever, and still cannot escape the punishment imposed on him by the gods!! ’

One life for another, one catastrophe after another. So, no matter what you choose, it will only make Merlin feel the same pain, right?

Shaking his head, West smiled faintly: "He won't." ”

I didn't bother to pay attention to them anymore. As the vitality in Arthur's body gradually recovered, the chaos of time order had reached an uncontrollable state, so that the scenery in his eyes also began to become nothing. Knowing that this time-space dislocation spanning thousands of years was about to rewind all the qiē back to normal, and that the self from this world would eventually return to the time that belonged to him, West sighed silently and leaned down, allowing his eyes to be level with the mage.

That's where they can get together.

"Look at me, Merlin."

Hold out your finger against your temple, as if to complete some kind of pious prayer. West looked straight into those reddened light gray eyes, like a sympathetic whisper, little by little, completely erasing a bit of himself from his mind.

"Remember, Arthur Pendragon never died. It was you who arrived in time to kill Mojana and send him to Avalon, where the elves who live here can heal him. ”

Watching Merlin's eyes gradually change from shock to dazed, and then to hypnotized emptiness. The brown-haired young man's brows were tightly tangled, his heart was like a knife, but his voice still seemed calm and dull:

"You fell into a trap in Carmellot and lost your magic, so you had to go to the Crystal Cave in search of hope, so you missed King Arthur's expedition...... From now on, you have never rescued a superpowered Wester Xavier in the forest, never placed him anywhere in your life. All your memories of him are false, and your fate has never crossed paths with him. ”

The rise and fall of Arthur's chest became more and more obvious, and the boy's body, which was pulled by the force of time, became more and more transparent. And as the powerful psychic hints took root in his mind, Merlin's breathing became more and more rapid, and it seemed that he was still powerless to resist West's power, but it was in vain after all.

"The past was just a big dream, Merlin. And now, it's time to wake up from the dream. ”

There is a time difference between you and me that is already thousands of years apart, and no one can overcome it. I know it, but I still can't control it, and I use you as an antidote to get rid of the past.

- West Xavier is such a selfish bastard.

Regardless of your wishes, they do not give you any choice, but they make decisions for you in the way they think are good for you...... Whether this is what you want or not, he has committed heinous sins again and is unrepentant. Such a person may never be worthy of your salvation from hell.

"I'm sorry."

Clear tears slipped from the corners of his eyes, wetting the back of Merlin's hand. West lowered his head and broke open his fingertips that were white from the force, and wanted to comfort him not to cry, but suddenly found that the person who was crying and almost lost his voice was obviously himself.

On the horizon, the first rays of morning light slowly rose from the horizon and shone on the trio on the shores of Lake Avalon. It should have been warm, but now it only feels cold.

The time regression is coming to an end, and the psychic hints are beginning to work. West took one last look at this era that he could never forget again, hesitated, leaned forward anyway, and gave Merlin an ethereal kiss in the corner of his mouth.

He won't say "goodbye".

And they won't see each other again.

It is at the dawn of this new era.

……

"West?"

A ray of white light gradually expanded in the darkness, shattering the silence into a variety of blurry and noisy light and shadow. He slowly opened his eyes, and in the blurred and clear vision, there were many familiar faces.

"Are you alright? Are you awake? ”

Lying on the head of the bed, there is a noticeable blue and black under the eyelids. Tony Stark looked at the silent teenager on the bed with a little worry, with concern in his eyes, regret, and sympathy that West didn't understand and didn't want to understand.

"Tony ......"

He opened his mouth, but could only make a hoarse voice that was almost a whisper. West called him so softly, and then he didn't say anything, just stared at the figure in a wheelchair behind Iron Man who came slowly, his eyes were focused, as if he was in a different world.

"It's great that you're waking up."

As countless times before, the eyes that looked at him were full of gentleness and love. Professor X hesitated, but reached out and pulled a strand of hair from West's forehead behind his ear.

"I thought I was going to lose you forever, son."

Charles Xavier looked at his adopted son quietly, his eyes as blue as the sea, and there was a broken choking in his voice: "I'm scared. ”

There was a crystal light in his eyes, and exhaustion and sadness all came to him the moment he saw his adoptive father. Unable to maintain the appearance of pretending to be strong, Wester grabbed the corner of Charles's clothes, like all children who have been wronged outside, and was finally able to make the tears burst silently and violently.

“…… Me too, Charles. ”

He broke the most important part of his life with his own hands.

The only time in my life that I fell in love with someone without hesitation, but it could only end up in this way.