Babylon
Disclaimer: I don't own Eragon or the song. My parents like it, and I listened to it once, got it stuck in my head, looked up the lyrics, and realized it fit Morzan/Selena. So, here it goes.
Morzan dismounted from his dragon Baen in Gil'ead. He looked around. The area was completely deserted. Why was that? It was Friday night in one of the largest cities of the Empire. This was around the time men got off duty. He'd left the city after he'd been wounded by Brom and returned to recapture the egg. He knew his former friend had found it. He just knew it.
But the former rider wasn't here. Nobody was. There had been people there just before he and Baen had fled, both wounded in a manner he had thought fatal. He wandered through the streets. Maybe he would find somebody. Maybe Brom and his men had gone crazy, and the army had been evacuated. Maybe it wasn't Friday anymore. But on what day of the week was Gil'ead completely empty?
Do you remember how long we were out? he asked Baen.
No, the red dragon replied. I think the evacuation due to madness theory is probably the best.
Morzan laughed shortly.
Evacuation due to madness, he said. I like it.
Friday night I'm going nowhere
All the lights are changing green to red
Turning over TV stations
Situations running through my head
The emptiness of the city was beginning to make him uneasy. It wasn't natural. He just wanted to leave. He'd wanted to go back to Urû'baen. He needed to do some things there. He needed to make amends for what he'd done to Murtagh. He shuddered inwardly at the thought. He'd killed many, true. Injured many, true, but he'd never hurt a child. How could he have thrown his sword at the boy? How?
He shouldn't have been worried about how the other Foresworn would taunt him for it. He should've protected the boy from them, true, but he shouldn't have resented him for it all. Oh, how could he have thrown his sword at him? He thought back to that night.
He'd been angry at Selena because of some rumors circulated about her by Den-ner, the only female Foresworn and the eleventh to die. Den-ner claimed that she'd only learned of the plot of the Varden to steal the dragon eggs from the king because she'd lain with Brom. He'd believed Den-ner for some unfathomable reason. Then again, perhaps it hadn't been so unfathomable. He'd been drunk. That was the thing that made him vile, or so Galbatorix, Baen, and Selena said.
He'd gone back to his estates and yelled at her, ranted at her, screamed at her, called her every unprintable name under the sun, and then he'd stricken her. That was when Murtagh came in. He could just remember the boy pulling on his arm, trying to keep him from hitting his mother again. He remembered reaching for the first thing he'd been able to grasp: Zar'roc. He'd pushed Murtagh away from him and hurled it at him. That was when the drink overpowered him. Now, five months after the incident, he'd finally been able to recall most of what had happened.
He remembered seeing the scar. He remembered calling Selena and the healer liars because they'd said he put it on his own son's back. Then he remembered the healer taking Zar'roc and showing him how bloody it was and how it fit the scar exactly. He'd left after that to go back to Urû'baen. He hadn't been able to face what he'd done. He should have been able to. He should have faced it then. Now, it was haunting him in this deserted city. He wandered slowly.
Well looking back through time
You know it's clear that I've been blind
I've been a fool
To ever open up my heart
To all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule
He began to run. He didn't know why, but this emptiness was too much. He'd always been a loner. He'd never needed anyone besides Baen, and Baen was here now. Why then did this forsaken city haunt him so?
Stop running, Baen chided, but Morzan could feel the dragon's discomfort. He stopped sprinting and leaned against the side of a building, panting.
Saturday I'm running wild
And all the lights are changing red to green
Moving through the crowd I'm pushing
Chemicals all rushing through my bloodstream
I wish she was here, Morzan said. It was true. He wished Selena was here. Why did he need her now? Why did he feel the sudden need to tell her that he loved her even though he knew she wouldn't believe him? Why should she after their last meeting? He could barely believe he'd come to love that village girl from Carvahall. He remembered how he'd met.
He'd been in the village's tavern. It had been owned by a man named Quimby. After all these years, it amazed him that he remembered the bartender's name. In fact, he remembered every villager whose name had been mentioned that night. He'd seen a young woman of about sixteen beg a storyteller for a tale about dragons. Morzan probably wouldn't have looked up then if he hadn't recognized the storyteller's voice. It had been Brom's. He'd watched quietly as the man told the entire group gathered around him of the fall. Morzan had of course gotten up and put his sword to Brom's neck. He could have ended it then, but he was stopped.
The girl who had asked for the story told him she'd asked for it, and that Brom had simply granted her request. Morzan had replied that she hadn't known for what she'd asked and that Brom had known perfectly well what he had told, but he wasn't angry at her. She seemed so nervous and so scared, but she stood her ground. It was amusing, actually. He'd decided to humor her and not kill Brom right then and there. He'd learn where his former friend lodged and kill him then. Even when Brom had left the village that very night, Morzan hadn't held it against the girl, whom he'd learned was called Selena.
Only wish that you were here
You know I'm seeing it so clear
I've been afraid
To tell you how I really feel
Admit to some of those bad mistakes I've made
He'd actually asked her to follow him, for he'd seen some merit in her determination. He'd taught her to spy for him. He'd taught her magic, hoping to help her spy as much as he hoped to protect her from the other Foresworn. He'd kept both her and Morzan from the Foresworn's knowledge. Den-ner was the only one who knew Selena existed, and Morzan had made her swear to secrecy on the pain of death. He'd begged Galbatorix to not reveal Selena's and Murtagh's existences. To his surprise, the king had actually agreed not to. Not only that, but Galbatorix had kept his word.
He had loved Selena, and she'd loved him. She'd see it. He'd make her see that he'd only been drunk, that he hadn't meant. He could do it. He would.
If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Babylon, Babylon
He wondered when he'd see her again as he kicked at a pile of dead leaves that had fallen from the trees. (Funny, he'd thought it was spring.) Maybe she'd found some spying mission and left of her own initiative. She'd only done that once, and that had been the time she'd gone to find out what the Varden's great plan was. That great plan had been to steal the eggs. They'd only gotten one of those eggs because of what she'd told them, and everyone had had to go on this terrible chase to get it. Ligan, another Foresworn, and Den-ner had both perished so far. Brom had gotten away with the egg. But he'd find him and fix it.
He turned and saw the last person he'd expected to see. Selena was standing there, wearing the same simple dress she'd worn the first time he'd seen her and she was smiling.
Sunday all the lights of London
Shining , Sky is fading red to blue
I'm kicking through the Autumn leaves
And wondering where it is you might be going to
Turning back for home
You know I'm feeling so alone
I can't believe
Climbing on the stair
I turn around to see you smiling there
In front of me
He ran towards her, but she shook her head. He didn't stop. He embraced her, and she returned the gesture.
"I'm sorry," he told her.
"I forgive you," she whispered. She put her hands to his chest.
"You're hurt," she said. Morzan stared at his chest. Blood was soaking it. That was the same place Brom had stabbed him.
If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
At that moment, something pulled Morzan back. The most beautiful boy child Morzan had ever seen came to stand beside Selena. He emitted a great brilliance. Morzan turned to see what had caught him. A very different sort of child was standing behind him. It was male and beautiful but darkly so, with horns growing out of its head.
"Your task is complete," the light child told Selena. "You've forgiven, and you repented and atoned for all before your death."
"Death?" Morzan asked.
"Are you going to take him too?" the black child asked the light one mockingly. "Didn't he repent what he did to her?"
The light child hung his head in sadness. "It's not enough. He doesn't regret enough." The boy touched his face. Morzan was surprised at how warm and comforting the hand felt.
"Mayhap at the end of all things your love for her will save you," the child comforted before stepping away and vanishing.
Morzan tried to run after the boy and Selena, but the dark child held him back, laughing.
"You don't repent. You don't care. You've killed so many and never regretted. Come to where you belong," the child/beast said.
"Baen!" Morzan yelled, for he could no longer touch his dragon's presence with his mind.
"He's gone already," the child crooned saccharinely. "You'll go soon, and it'll be over. It's just like Babylon. It was great and evil while it lasted, but now it's utterly spent. So pass the Foresworn."
Babylon, Babylon, Babylon
Okay, if anyone was confused, Morzan died, and his spirit and his dragon's went back to Gil'ead. Morzan didn't know he was dead exactly, but he started regretting what he'd done because deep down inside, he knew Brom had killed him. Please, review before clicking on the back button.