So this isn't exactly my first attempt at writing a Merlin fanfic, but it is the first one I'm posting. I started writing this back at Christmas time, when the Merlin feels were still killing me, and even though I've went back through and reread this, please forgive any inaccuracies.
That being said, this is an AU of the episode The Dark Tower, so yes, it will be different from the show. And I know that both my idea and my story aren't that original, but oh well, this is going to be fun!
Summary: While attempting to save Gwen from The Dark Tower, Merlin is captured and forced to endure the same treatment as Gwen. Will anyone be able to save Merlin from Morgana's spells or even himself? Dark Tower AU.
Arthur and everyone else were looking for Gwen, Merlin went to find Morgana. He knew that he had to stop this and end this war now. Morgana seemed to be getting stronger and stronger with each passing day, and although Merlin was still stronger than her, he wasn't willing to take any chances.
Morgana had taken Gwen, Gwen of all people, and held her captive like some kind of animal. Gwen who, even after all Morgana had done to Arthur and the kingdom, still mourned the loss of her once best friend. It just wasn't right. Not that much seemed to be these days.
Merlin could hear the sound of fighting coming from down the hall. He knew that they had found Gwen, and he could hear her pained screams carrying down the hallway. He wanted to run back, to help his friends, but he knew that he couldn't. He had to find Morgana.
He followed a spiral staircase until he reached the peak of the tower, where he had assumed Morgana would be. Instead, there was a dark room with black goo dripping down from the ceiling.
Without even setting a foot in the room he knew that Morgana wasn't there. He turned around, intent on walking back down the hallway and stairs until he found the room that she was actually in, but a force flung him backwards.
His head cracked against the hard stone as he landed inside the room. Black sludge dripped onto his face as he propped himself up with his elbows, and stared slightly doe-eyed through the black spots in his vision.
Morgana stood in the door way, the last bit of gold fading from her eyes as she smirked at Merlin. "How nice of you to join me, Merlin," she said, her voice as cold as ice. He glared back at her, refusing to break eye contact.
This was the person he had went in search for, but now that he had found her he didn't know quite what to do. He knew that he had to get rid of her, that he had to make sure that she could never harm anyone ever again, but how was he to do that? His head was throbbing from the force of hitting the ground, making it hard to concentrate on any spells that might help him, and his vision wavered like disturbed water.
"Morgana," Merlin said eventually, still staring her in the eyes. Her blue eyes seemed icier than ever as she stared him down. Slowly, the smirk spread across into a full blown smile.
"Noooo!" a scream echoed from somewhere below them in the castle. Merlin flinched at the anguished sound of Gwen's voice, resisting the urge to try and run to them. He knew that Morgana would never let him past, and even if he somehow did manage to get past her, she would only follow him back to Arthur and everyone else.
He knew that no matter what he did, he couldn't allow Morgana to get her hands on a single person down there. He would defend them until his last breath, and he would make sure that they got out of here safely.
"Sounds like they're having fun," Morgana said, her voice holding faint traces of amusement. She took a step back from the doorway, her black dress dragging along the floor. "Why don't I just go see what all the fuss is about, hm?" she said.
With one last smile she flicked her wrist and the heavy wooden door slammed shut. Merlin quickly jumped to his feet and ran to the door, fists pounding on it even though he knew it would do no good. He raised his hand to the door and tried to focus his foggy mind onto a single spell that might help him escape.
He could feel his magic coiling inside him, ready to spring out and attack whatever he told it to. But instead of it attacking the door like he had expected it to, he felt it roll around inside him like a wave of pure fire. He felt himself falling to the floor, but his head was pounding too badly for him to actually focus on catching himself, and the urge to throw up almost overwhelming.
Gingerly, he raised himself to his elbows again, glancing around the dark room. The slime from earlier was still dripping on to the ground, forming black puddles in different places around the room. A shaking hand reached up to wipe some sweat from his face, when he encountered some of the black goo that had fallen onto his face.
What is this stuff?
Before he had a chance to think of anything else, a scream echoed inside the room. With strength he didn't know he had, he shot up and scooted over until his back was against the door. The scream continued on, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. His hands clapped down over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound of the horrible screams.
As sudden as the scream had started, it stopped. Cautiously, he glanced around the room with his hands still clamped down on his ears. The scream hadn't sounded like a normal scream, hell it hadn't even sounded human.
He tried to remind himself that this was currently Morgana's castle (not to mention the supposed Dark Tower), so there was every chance that whatever was in the room with him wasn't human. A shudder ran through him as he thought of all the things that could be waiting in the darkness for him to turn his head, to look away so it would be able to do whatever with him.
He searched for his magic but was only able to conjure a few sparks inside. His head was pounding with an intense pain, confusing his magic and himself.
"Merlin?" a voice called out to him. He tensed as he turned his head to look at who was calling him.
Arthur stood there, his sword drawn and glancing around the room. His eyes rested on Merlin and they widened before he rushed over to his fallen friend. "Merlin!" he said as he swooped down next to him.
Merlin opened his mouth to ask Arthur what had happened, and how he had found him, when he sensed something was wrong. He couldn't exactly explain it, but it prevented him from speaking.
"Merlin?" Arthur asked him. His eyes seemed to be concerned and searching Merlin's for answers.
Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. When he opened his eyes, however, Arthur was gone. He looked around, panic seizing his heart as he sat up against the door. Arthur had just been there, hadn't he? Where could he have gone in such a short amount of time?
"Arthur?" Merlin called out. His voice echoed back to him in the still darkness. "Arthur?" He lowered his voice to a whisper.
It was slow going, but he finally managed to force himself to his knees. Not completely trusting his strength to carry himself to his feet, he simply crawled over to the nearest pillar, just barely avoiding a puddle of slime as he collapsed next to the pillar.
Suddenly, a sword swung down out of nowhere, narrowly avoiding Merlin's neck as he rolled out of the way. His head pulsed at the pain, but he ignored it in favor of staring at the person who had tried to decapitate him.
"Arthur?" Merlin asked, not entirely believing his eyes. Arthur stood in front of him, his eyes filled with hatred, and his sword pointing out in front of him. The tip of it rested a mere inch above Merlin's heart, and he felt his heart beat speed up slightly. He gasped for air through the pain and disbelief.
"Arth-" Merlin began, but Arthur quickly interrupted him.
"Don't you dare say my name," the King ground out as he glared down the person he once called his friend. "Don't you dare pretend to be my friend, when all you've ever done is lie to me."
Merlin watched as Arthur raised his sword above him again, ready to strike. Merlin rolled away again, swiftly squatting down behind a different pillar. He placed his hand over his stomach to try and hold back some of the burning feeling as he sneaked a look around the other side of the pillar.
Arthur was gone again. Merlin shook his head. Had he imagined the whole thing? Surely he had, Arthur wouldn't have attacked him, would he have? And what had he meant when he said he had lied to him? There was no way he could possibly know about Merlin's magic, but what else could he have been talking about?
Either way, he thought, I have to get out of here.
He stood on his shaking legs, finding the strength in his fear. Before he'd even taken two steps, a timid voice called out to him. His eyes widened as he turned around as fast as he could.
His hopeful blue eyes locked on to the beautiful brown ones staring at him from on the floor. "Freya," he whispered, his voice light as a feather as if he was afraid that any minute it would all come crashing down and she would disappear.
She smiled at him and he felt his knees give out completely. He hit the ground, but his eyes never left hers. He smiled at her, his first real smile in a long time. She smiled back at him, and slid over to where he was sitting.
She was still wearing the clothes that Merlin had last seen her in, but they were torn and worn almost as much as the ones she'd been wearing when he'd first met her. She slid gently next to him, her hand rising up to his face.
"Merlin," she said. His voice caught in his throat, and he felt tears spring to his eyes. God, it felt so good to hear her voice again after so long, even if it was just his name. He wanted her to talk, for her to never stop talking.
He repeated her name, his arms coming up around her to hug her. She let him hug her, but he couldn't help but notice that she didn't hug back. He let go of her, holding her back at arm's length to get a good look at her.
Her hair was wild and untamed and her clothes were torn and ragged, but she still looked the same. She was still the girl that he had fallen in love with. But something seemed off. Just like there had been something off about Arthur earlier.
He couldn't help but tense as he leaned back away from her. Her smile was still in place, but instead of it being a comforting and loving look, it was almost harsh. Like Morgana's.
"You let me die, Merlin," she said, her once loving voice replaced with one filled with hate.
Merlin gasped as he shook his head. "No, no I didn't," he said. "I- I did everything that I could, I-I" he stammered, but Freya cut him off.
"You did everything you could? No, you didn't. You let me die, Merlin. You let me die, and then you continued to support and protect my murderer. I thought you loved me, Merlin. I thought you said we would run away together and live somewhere beside a lake. You lied, Merlin," she said.
Merlin shook his head. No, this couldn't be the girl he had once loved. The Freya he knew wouldn't be so cruel. The Freya he knew would have understood him and what he was doing. She would have been sympathetic and kind and understanding just as she had been in real life.
"It's your fault, Merlin," she said one last time before Merlin closed his eyes and covered his ears to drown out her voice and vision. This wasn't the Freya he knew or wanted to remember. He wanted to remember her as the beautiful and kind girl she had once been.
When he opened his eyes she was gone, just like Arthur. He wasted no time in running over to the door and trying to force it open, but the heavy wood wouldn't yield. It didn't even budge an inch as he pushed all of his weight against it.
Even though his mind told him that he wouldn't be able to push the door open, he felt as if he had to try. He scrapped his fingers against the door until they were raw and bleeding, and even then he didn't stop. If he could just get the door open, if he could just get out of the room everything would be okay, right?
"Merlin?"
He shook his head. No. There was no way that voice was real. It couldn't be, because he was dead. He was dead and so was Freya. This was nothing except some kind of trick set up by Morgana herself.
"Merlin, come on," the vision behind him said, his voice pleading with Merlin to turn around.
Reluctantly, Merlin turned his head to see the person in front of him. Even though he had known who it was, it still hurt him to see him with his own eyes.
Will stood there in front of him, with Balinor a few paces behind. Neither one of them moved, only stared at Merlin with heart breaking looks on their faces. He knew what they would say to him though, if they were speaking. They would blame him for their deaths, and he couldn't find it in him to argue with them. It was his fault that they were gone, after all.
"Go away," Merlin whispered. Both of them took a step towards him instead, neither one of them heeding his words. "You're not real. You can't be."
Will smiled a vicious smile at that. "You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you Merlin?" he asked. His once friendly face was now replaced with something similar to hatred.
This was obviously not the Will he had grown up with in Ealdor. The Will he knew had willingly gave his life for Merlin to keep his friendship with Arthur and to keep his secret hidden from the other man. He knew deep down that this was not Will, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
Balinor stepped in front of Will. Merlin flinched back, deciding that these visions were obviously going for the ones that hurt him most. He had been unable to save Balinor because Arthur had been there, but that didn't mean that his death had necessarily been Merlin's fault.
But Merlin's mind was running wild. Yes, of course it had been his fault Balinor and Will and Freya had died. Who else's would it have been? He tried to shake these thoughts from his head, but no matter how hard he tried they kept coming back full force. They plagued him, teased him, just as the figures in the room were doing now.
"Please go away," he begged them as he curled up on the floor. Please, he begged, someone come find me.
So that was the first chapter of Eyes Gone Cold, and I hope you've enjoyed it. Next chapter should be up soon!