The Light Dims
Gwen has been tiring of Morgana for a long time. After learning the truth about a certain enchanted bracelet from long ago, Gwen decides that it was one scheme too many and that it's time to get revenge. Dark!Gwen. Post season 4. Contains some season 5 spoilers.
Warnings: Dark!Gwen and dark themes at the end. Contains some season 5 spoilers.
Gwen watched as the guards she had drugged fell asleep. She sighed at having to do this, but Arthur had been really unreasonable. He had locked Merlin in the dungeons for the night, and there were to be no visitors, including herself. It was because of a conflict between him and that new knight that her husband was fond of. Shaking her head, she continued down to the cell Merlin was locked in.
The cell brought back painful memories to her. It was the one Arthur had thrown her in when she betrayed him. She found Merlin sitting upright, fidgeting with something in his hands with a frown on his face.
"Merlin," she started. He looked up, clearly startled to have seen her there, and he quickly hid whatever he was fidgeting with behind his back. She frowned.
"What is that?"
"Oh, nothing," he replied.
"Merlin, you hid it behind your back. What is it?"
He looked very annoyed. Finally, he pulled his hand out to show her... no. She felt her blood run cold at the sight of it. Had no one cleaned out these cells since then?
"What are you doing with that?" she asked, and she realized she was slightly more accusing than she intended.
"I was…" he hesitated. "I was going to destroy it."
Well, that was odd. Had he recognized it too? "Why?" she asked.
He hesitated some more. "You know how Arthur is about magic. I didn't want to trouble him."
Wait. "What?"
"I know, I should have turned it in as soon as I saw it, but he has been angry with me lately, and if I turned in a magical bracelet, he would be even worse."
Gwen paused, the truth of his words setting in. "That bracelet was magical?"
Merlin looked confused. "Yes, isn't that why you upset for seeing me with it?"
I guess I must have really snapped a moment ago, she thought. "No. Sorry. I just…what sort of magic would it do?"
Merlin eyed her suspiciously. "When enchanted, it would be a kind of love enchantment. One that would awaken old feelings," he explained.
Love enchantment…Lancelot… "That witch!" she exclaimed.
Merlin looked confused. "What?"
Gwen was fuming. "She's gotten by with trying to kill me… trying to kill us all, but this?" She laughed bitterly. "I guess it was the one thing she could succeed at."
Merlin looked even more confused. "Gwen, what are you talking about?"
Her eyes locked with Merlin's. "Morgana."
Merlin frowned. "Well, it could be…"
"That was the bracelet Lancelot gave me the day I betrayed Arthur."
Merlin's eyes widened in shock. He stood there for a moment unable to move, as if he were frozen in time. "Gwen… I…"
Gwen shook her head. "She enchanted him too, didn't she?"
Merlin looked at her, his eyes full of sorrow, and slowly nodded. "Gwen, he was… he was a shade…"
"What is that?" she asked, feeling her anger boiling and her hurt deepening by the second.
"A shade is…." Merlin chocked, "a body that has been risen from the dead, but has no free will of its own."
No free will. That evil, manipulating witch had disgraced the most honorable person she knew. Just to make sure, she asked "How do you know this?"
"I…" he hesitated. "I noticed he was acting differently. I also had seen him step through the veil, and there was no way he could have survived. And I overheard him talking to Arthur."
Gwen felt anger rushing through her veins. "All this time." She paced in a circle. "So he really did sacrifice himself on the Isle of the Blessed."
Merlin nodded.
Gwen paced some more.
Merlin looked distressed. "I'm so sorry. For ever doubting you."
Gwen shook her head once again. "It wasn't you. It was that witch. She couldn't be satisfied with her attempts on our lives, could she? No. She had to take away everything I had."
Merlin looked at her, his eyes full of regret.
"And then Lancelot. She used him. Like a puppet. Then disgraced him." She chocked slightly. "He really was the noblest of us all."
Merlin turned away, pain clearly etched over his face. Gwen sighed. Lancelot had always seemed to know Merlin better than the rest of them. His death had really hurt Merlin.
Gwen paced in a circle some more. She had been losing her patience with her once best friend for a long time. Perhaps if Morgana hadn't been making their lives miserable for so long, she would have been less angered by this. But this was one step too many. And perhaps there was a time when she would have stayed in the shadows, trying to convince others to take action while she gave her help if she needed to. But she was queen now, and she could do as she pleased. She thought about her next step of action, and suddenly, the idea came to her. She turned her head and felt a slight smirk cut across her face and immediately thought of Morgana. Gwen took a deep breath, calming herself to speak to Merlin before leaving. "I came here to tell you that I believe you. Despite what Arthur says about Mordred."
Merlin looked up. "You…do?"
Gwen laughed slightly. "Yes. While Arthur is a good man and a brave king, I would say that blindness is his biggest fault."
A small, mischievous smile appeared on Merlin's face. "Thank you."
"And thank you," Gwen said. Then she turned away, ready to do the unprecedented for her.
It started with stealing from Camelot's vaults.