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6 months had passed since his encounter with a silver bullet.

He found himself in Newcastle, quite a bit from the border of Scotland. He had gotten off the bus at Victoria Train Station and gotten a train up to Newcastle Central Station. He walked from there until he found a hotel to stay in.

The weeks passed and they were hard. If Merlin concentrated, he could paint an illusion about his facial appearance, seemingly reconstructing his entire face. This way, he wouldn't be as recognizable so there was less chance of him being found out as a suspect in crime. Although, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long because every month, under the moon he would have to create a potion in private to keep up the illusion and finding the time, place and ingredients needed to do so was almost impossible. And besides, it was already an effort to keep himself looking young instead of appearing like a modern Dumbledore.
Therefore, for most of the time, he kept himself to the shadows. If he found himself passing a CTV Camera or any police, that was the best time to use the illusion. But like he'd said, it was impossible to use the illusion and come out not affected. He couldn't risk the chance of being so exhausted, the illusion would stop while he was under public eye. He knew that soon, he would have to be on the move again.

Surprisingly, he met a girl who was really nice to him. She worked in room service, delivering Merlin food from downstairs. She never questioned why he rarely left the room, instead she'd greet him with a smile and have some small talk at his door. Merlin knew that the waitress wanted to talk to him more and possibly befriend him, but Merlin wasn't ready for making any friends so brushed her off each time. He didn't even give her the time to fully introduce herself. She frowned, disappointed at his lack of response and left to go back to work. The next time she came up to deliver him his daily meal, she was cold and distant. Merlin couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.
Naturally, his time there didn't last long as he felt uneasy so he left as quickly as he could to find another hotel. He'd managed to hide his identity by purchasing a really long, auburn wig, a bowler hat and sunglasses. He'd also gotten a fake spray tan (It was so embarrising...) and wrapped his scarf around his mouth and chin to hide the rest of any noticable features. Like always, his ears where sticking out so he had a lot of fun trying to keep them down. (He failed.) But, at least this way he didn't have to go through the exhausting process of making a spell and potion each month. The amount of will and power to do so was like being hit with a tranquliser.

Of course, he hated that look so once he got to his hotel room with the new identity of 'Fletcher', he shed this horrible look back to his most prefered look of shoulder length, dark hair, no tan and stubbles on his chin, with no bowler hat or sunglasses. (Although, the bowler hat was beginning to grow on him again and reminded him of his look in the 20th century.)
It was his most natural look, he looked like this when he was younger, about 7 years AAD. (After Arthur's death.)
He kept this look because he preferred to stay true to himself as much as possible. His other prefered look was his old self with his white beard because he found it amusing and less physically demanding on his magic ability to look like that. Also, it's the way people envision the legend 'Merlin' to look, which he found slightly poetic. (And he did get elderly discounts.)

As soon as he entered the room, he switched on the TV to find his face staring back at him. It was a news report of what had happened 6 months ago with himself and the agents. A video played showing him on the ground squirming and crying out in pain, bullets being fired, when suddenly his eyes shown bright, hot yellow and he yelled. He yelled so loud, as loud as his lungs would let him when suddenly a ring of fire erupted around him blocking any more of his view. In red, bold letters at the top it read:
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'Man with superhuman powers or concidental enviromental accident?'
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The people on the screen started debating over the two points, thankfully everyone bar one person where debating over the fire being an accident. The single man pointed out the change in eye colour but the people defended their view by saying it was the reflection of the fire's light reflecting in his eyes and the camera, etc. This was some good news because it meant his powers weren't given away yet but he had to be way more careful next time, no matter the amount of pain he was in. Now days was an even bigger threat to having magic because instead of being executed he would be captured and experimented on for the rest of his life. That was no way to live. Also, it was a lot harder now to stay secret than it had ever been. The invention of technology has seriously affected his ability to not get caught and be didn't know how long it would be until his true identity would be discovered.

Merlin: The Return Of The Once And Future King.   (BBC MERLIN)Where stories live. Discover now