witchesreign | 01 | Action

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[This place doesn't make any sense, as far as Arthur is concerned. And while interrogating what faculty he could taught him a little more about this whole school thing, it took a great deal of calm on his part not to draw his sword on them as his kidnappers. The fact that they were so congenial about the whole thing is the main reason he hasn't threatened anyone. Yet.

It wasn't until after a humbling talk with the headmaster that he calmed down and really began to look at his situation. After which he began wandering Balamb Garden, feeling unusually lost in more ways than one. A king without his kingdom, his people, was nothing more than a man. The only consolation he had was Excalibur, sheathed at his side. A small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

So that leaves one (1) King of Camelot, in full chainmail, a bright red cape, and a crown, wandering around exploring the place. And occasionally asking questions, because displacement aside, he's not exactly up to date on the modern technology.]

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[He nods. There was a lot more he could say, but there was too much, and he suspected way too much to force Merlin to take in all at once.]

Not that it means anything, here. I can't be a king without my kingdom, my people.

Edited 2012-01-02 02:56 (UTC)

Well it's not that bad. You still have me! [Merlin grins, although inside he's burning to know whether Arthur knows about the magic, and still has him around anyway]

[He just looks at Merlin... then scoffs, giving his shoulder a light punch.]

That's right. I don't have my knights, my Queen, or my kingdom, but at least I have my bumbling, good-for-nothing idiot servant. That makes me feel so much better.

[Sarcastic, but still with a touch of fondness. He's glad to have Merlin here, really.]

So I take it that means I have two years of washing your dirty socks to look forward to? Well, that's a disappointment. [Merlin might sound glib, but he's grinning at the same time.

Then he eyes Arthur.] Are you sure there isn't...anything else you need to tell me about what happens in the next few years? Nothing...important? [Like magic?]

[He laughs, but sobers up quickly enough to address his question.]

How about this. I couldn't possibly explain everything that has happened, but ask me anything and I'll do my best to answer it. I can try and fill you in on the rest later.

[Merlin looks at Arthur hopelessly. He can't ask if magic is still banned, he can't. And Arthur...sure if Arthur knew, he'd know that? Surely if he'd really accepted Merlin, then he'd know to just...tell him.

Merlin felt his stomach sink. Two years in his future, Arthur finally King, and was magic...was magic still illegal?

And he couldn't ask. Not about that.]

Well...is everyone still alright? Well... [Apart from Uther, but Merlin shouldn't say that.]

...did we find Morgana?

[He had to think for a minute. It had been an... eventful two years, when he thought about it. 'Everyone' now included a lot more people than it did back then.

Maybe it was best to address the question about Morgana first, at which his jaw tightened.]

We did find Morgana, after a year of searching. I thought- we all thought- things went back to the way they were, for a time. But she... [As long as it had been, it still chilled him, recalling the moment he watched her reveal her true intentions before Uther. Not to mention more recent memories...]

It turned out she'd joined forces with Morgause. She betrayed us.

[And here Merlin had thought his stomach couldn't sink any further. He'd hoped that Morgana would be alright, and that she wouldn't have been tainted by Morgause, but...if even Arthur acknowledged her as betraying them...

How? Morgana...what did she do?

She tried to usurp the throne. [A pause.] Twice. The second time was much more recent, not long before I arrived here.

[He deliberates for a moment whether to add in certain details before deciding he should. Merlin was always someone he knew he could speak more or less openly to, and possibly the only person he could really talk to here. It wouldn't serve any purpose to conceal things from him.]

Gorlois wasn't her father. My father... Uther was. She believes she is the rightful heir to the throne, and has turned to magic and deceit to take it.

[Merlin's eyes widened. Of all things, that was not something he'd expected to hear]

Morgana is your sister?!

Yes. [He didn't really want to talk about that one, not right now. Too many lies and what-ifs and regrets, it wouldn't do any good to linger on what could have been.]

As things stand, she is an enemy of Camelot.

[Was this something Merlin could have stopped? Was her turning his fault? In poisoning her to save Camelot, had he made her into an enemy?

He didn't know, but that didn't stop him for fearing that he'd caused this]

I...I'm sorry, Arthur.

[Arthur's thoughts weren't so different; despite trying not to linger on it, after seeing her face to face again so recently he couldn't help but wonder for the umpteenth time if there was something he could have done, should have done, to save her from feeling she had to make such a terrible choice. From feeling that there was no choice but for them to be enemies.]

We all were.

[He looked off at nothing for a moment, taking a deep breath to clear all that from his head.]

What's done is done. We must live with the consequences, and make the most of what we still can.

So. Any other questions?

[The question 'why isn't magic legal?' still lingered, but Merlin knew now that he couldn't ask that. Didn't mean he didn't still have questions, though]

What about Gaius? Is he alright?

[A much less guilt-ridden question, if not entirely free of it. But at least this time, the news he could give was good. He nodded.]

He's been through some rough times recently, but last I saw of him he has recovered fully. He's fine.

Rough times? What do you mean? He didn't get hurt, did he?

[Goddammit. Well, he'd keep his word, if mainly just for more recent events.]

...I'm afraid Gaius was abducted by someone in league with Morgana, not so long ago. He was tortured, for information. More recently, he was left to starve in the dungeons when... Camelot fell to Morgana. Temporarily.

[Lots of details left out, he knew, but he didn't especially want to go into them. But he at least owed it to Merlin to let him know how Gaius was doing.]

But as I said, he's fine now. Both times he was rescued before anything worse could happen to him.

Edited 2012-01-04 08:10 (UTC)

[Well, at least that has managed to make Merlin completely forget anything about magic and Arthur's lack of knowledge about it, because now concern for Gaius superseded everything]

What?! She tortured him? But Gaius, she couldn't...how could Morgana put him through that?!

[He closed his eyes a moment, lips tightening as he resisted the urge to ask Merlin to stop bringing up Morgana. But he was the one who brought her up, and he was really beginning to wish that Merlin weren't so far behind. He didn't know what to make of it.]

If you'd seen some of the horrors she's unleashed upon us, you wouldn't be so surprised. I'm sorry, Merlin, but she's not the same Morgana we used to know. She's a sorceress and a traitor, now. All she knows is hatred.

[Merlin flinches at the way Arthur said 'sorceress'. If he ever needed proof, that alone was enough

When he answers, it's in a small voice.] Right.

[He relents a little; he needed to be blunt about it to get his point across, but it wasn't his intention to intimidate his servant.]

I know it's hard. I never would have believed that Morgana could become the person she is today. Believe me, if there were any way I could bring her back to us, I would do it. But she has made her choice, and it is my duty to defend Camelot from her.

[Merlin pauses at that, biting his lip.] You would bring her back if you could? Even...even though she has magic?

[That stumps him. Even if she were to go back to her old ways, become the Morgana he'd once known and trusted, she had committed the grievous crime of sorcery. In his father's day, it didn't matter who it was- those who used magic for any reason or even consorted with those who did were put to death. Would even Morgana have been subject to that penalty, had Uther had the chance? It was a chilling thought, one he hadn't thought to consider before now. For her to die a sorceress would break his father's heart... and maybe that was exactly what happened.

It was no longer Uther's reign, and though his own heart had been broken in his own way, it had not destroyed him the way it had his father. Now that he was gone, he was trying his best to be a good king on by own merit, without blindly following his father's extreme attitude toward magic. But could he ever truly forgive Morgana?]

...The reality of it is, I can't. It's too late to undo what she's done, and I'm sure she realizes that as well.

[If her most recent parting words to him had been any indication, she knew that very well.]

[Merlin deflates at that. Arthur might have been talking about how Morgana had gone past the point of being saved, but all Merlin heart was I can't. Even for Morgana Arthur couldn't trust magic.

To Arthur, Merlin just nodded, uncharacteristically silent]

[This entire conversation had turned unbearably somber, and Merlin's unusual silence on top of that was enough to make Arthur want to lighten the mood before it could get any more depressing.]

But look at you- you look like a dog left out in the rain. [A brief pause as he looks over Merlin's lanky figure.] A starved dog. Why don't you take your mind off things by giving me a proper tour? You are still my servant, after all.

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nevergetscredit - 2012-01-06 03:10 (UTC) - Expand

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