lætan sé þéostornes uncoðu úre ferþþ, lætan hit lÆdan þu æt úre forscrífan - Let the darkness plague your mind, let it lead you to your doom


They were in the council chambers when Morgana had suddenly appeared in burst of wind, letting the knights barely unsheathing their swords before she started flinging her hands, making all the furniture in the room crash to the walls at the side.

Her eyes glinted with madness as she raised her hand towards Arthur, who was just getting his sword poised to attack.

"Morgana-" but whatever Arthur was about to say, he was cut off by Morgana herself.

"Lætan sé þéostornes uncoðu úre ferþþ, lætan hit lÆdan þu æt úre forscrífan!" She shouted the enchantment, and a burst of magic erupted from her raised hand, heading straight for Arthur. The magic was too fast, and Arthur was still caught by surprise over the rush of the events so he had no chance of dodging the spell -

Until Merlin jumped right in front of him, taking the spell square in the chest.

"Merlin!" Arthur cried out as Merlin crumpled to the floor while Morgana let out a shriek of fury.

"I am not letting you go this time brother. Merlin may have taken the curse, but thats two birds in one stone for me," Morgana screamed as she raised her hand again, but as she let out another burst of magic wordlessly, Merlin stood upright in front of the king who had fallen to his feet for his friend.

Merlin raised a hand.

And a shield erupted in front of every knight, Gwen, Gaius and Merlin himself with Arthur behind him, letting the spell Morgana threw bounce off harmlessly.

Silence reigned the halls as everyone stared at Merlin, until a gagging sound pierced the air.

Arthur stood behind Morgana, somehow making his way from behind Merlin to behind the High Priestess, and his sword was now sticking out her chest from where it pierced her through her back.

With a jerk of his hand, Arthur slid his sword out of Morgana, letting the woman slump to the ground, her eyes glassy and her mouth still parted in surprise. Kneeling down, Arthur closed Morgana's eyes, but he didn't stay kneeling for long, as he slowly started to raise himself again, the grip on his sword tightening as he stared at Merlin, his face unreadable.

It was then that Merlin allowed himself to slump to the ground, unconscious as well.


"You lied to him."

Merlin grimaced, closing his eyes harder as he tried in vain to block out the noises by pressing his hands to his ears, curling up on his side on the bed. He was aware that he was in his chambers at the back of Gaius' chambers, but he wasn't putting too much thought on his current residence as of the moment.

"He deserves so much more."

"Stop," Merlin groaned aloud, not hearing the screeching of wood against wood from Gaius' chambers at his voice.

"Traitor."

"Merlin?" the door to his chambers burst open, letting in a harried Gaius. "How are you feeling?"

"Worthless."

"What happened?" Merlin bit out, gritting his teeth as he tried to focus on his mentor.

"Good for nothing."

Gaius blinked, and it was then Merlin realized that not only did Gaius look bone weary, but there were unshed tears glistening in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Merlin," Gaius whispered. "Arthur has set a trial for you tomorrow, now that you're awake."

Merlin blinked.

"You might as well die."


Merlin lay in bed for the rest of that day, the voice persistent as it whispered into his ear every other second, barely aware of Gaius moving around his chambers or bringing in Merlin food and drink.

But as night fell, Merlin was more than aware of hearing Gaius retire to bed.

"Might as well do something properly."

"Are you going to let the old man suffer as he watches you burn?"

"What if he speaks aloud?"

"He'll burn right along with you."

"One more death to add on your head."

"Who can be sure, though, that the deaths won't stop with Gaius?"

"Let it end with you."

"There's no reason for you to live anyway."

"You're going to die by tomorrow either way."

"Do you want others to die with you?"

"The Great Purge would start yet again."

"But if you die now…"

Slowly, as if in a trance - though for all the world he may as well have been in a trance - Merlin raised himself from his bed for the first time that day. Moonlight glinted through the small window, casting enough light for Merlin to be able to make out the way to his door without bumping into anything and possibly waking up Gaius.

He made his way down the stairs slowly, immediately taking in the form of his sleeping mentor. He couldn't help the small, sad smile that graced his features then, and instinctively lowering his eyes to hide the golden glow, he watched the man's threadbare blanket climb higher onto Gaius' shoulders before settling again.

Merlin continued to watch his mentor sleeping - somewhat - peacefully, for what may as well be the last time he'd get to see his mentor, but the smile had soon slipped off his face. A moment longer, and he blinked, remembering what exactly he was doing out here, and grimly setting his shoulders, he made his way to the cupboard holding many of the vials Gaius used - including what Merlin was going to need now.

He looked first, not wanting to reach out for the glass vials just yet, trying to avoid as much as noise as possible, and despite being behind other vials, years of experience let Merlin find the vial easily.

Hemlock.

The voice, which had so far been quiet, piped up again.

"It's what you deserve after all."

"You poisoned your own friend."

"Its only fair you experience what she had to go through."

"And both of you, so much more."

His resolve strengthened, he silently pushed away the other vials and reached out for the vial at the back.

His hands firmly gripping the vial, he stepped away from the shelf, casting one last morose look around Gaius' chambers, before grim resolution set down on his face again, and he briskly yet quietly made his way back to his chambers.

Once settled down into his bed, he looked at the vial in his hands, the skeleton warning of it's contents fatality seemingly mocking him.

Merlin looked out the window, moonlight streaming through to cast light onto his silent tears.

He had to get rid of the vial when he was done, there couldn't be any way to save him once he took this step. And he knew how, of course. There wasn't much of any other choice except for his magic.

His magic… What had gotten him to this big of a mess in the first place.

The voice, was ever eager to give him reasons it seemed.

"If you didn't have magic, you could have been more worthy of Arthur."

"If you didn't have magic, so many people wouldn't have died."

He couldn't bear any more of it. Yes, the voice was true in every way, but really, truth does tend to sting.

So that was it then. He was going to use magic one last time, and hopefully for once, for the greater good.

Merlin closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths before he opened his eyes again.

He pulled open the stopper, and downed it's contents in one go.


So yeah, I'm planning for this to be it, however depending on the responses I won't mind too much to add.. say an alternate ending for this... ;)

On a side note, this is also why WLTtD is taking me so long.. longer than normal anyway. I've been plagued with this idea and another one, and I want to finish typing those for a change before I actually post them, but I do plan on working on WLTtD now that I'm done with this! (Maybe tomorrow, idk, depends on homework... we'll have to see but I'm not sure)

so thats it, but please review!