Reviews would mean a lot to me :) Also, if anyone has any ideas for future chapters, please let me know because I am totally stuck. Thanks and enjoy!
(Just for the record, this is not a redemption fic, this is about Morgana finally pushing Arthur too far and him losing himself to darkness...)
Warning for violence.
When he saw her the next morning, he almost did a double take. She was resting against the wall, eyes open, ever wary of danger although she was powerless to retaliate. Her skin was marred with varying degrees of bruises and blood was splattered from where he'd hit most. Yet, somehow, she was not cowering before him. She seemed more defiant than ever before. And despite all the hatred he felt towards her, he admired her bravery.
"Come to gloat, brother dear," she said, her lips curving upwards in mirth.
"I see that our… session yesterday has not prompted a change of heart," he responded, not answering her taunts for what could be the first time in his life.
"You know my answer, Arthur. Never."
Beneath her cool exterior, she was terrified; of him, of what he could do, of his limits, of his goal… She'd recovered from the initial shock quickly enough and decided that there was no escaping for her. She would die here, for sure. The thought didn't bother her too much… Although pain flooded through her, she wasn't too bothered about that either, yet. Sarrum had put her through worse, so much worse. At least she didn't need to protect anyone this time…
"What do you hope to achieve by this?" she asked, just to break the silence.
"Your suffering," he responded, an evil glint in his eyes that she'd seen in Uther's many times before.
"Because persecuting my kind isn't enough. Me being terrified for my life and watching my people burn while I was relatively safe. That was never suffering."
"Magic corrupted you, Morgana."
"And power corrupted you."
He backhanded her on her already heavily bruised cheek and she winced before the smile returned, as if it had never left.
"How dare you, Morgana? I'm doing what I have to do."
"Oh, please, Arthur, do you take me for a fool?"
"Yes, sister or you would know when to give in."
"Afraid of losing are we? It must hurt your pride so much to actually have someone defy you. I'll bet Gwen was a simpering little bitch with nothing better to do than please you." The king hit her again, transferring all of his weight into the slap. Her head snapped to the side and cracked off the wall sickeningly, her cheek swelling instantly and blood dripping from the fresh gash in her head. How dare she talk about his wife in that way; just because she was kind and sweet and loyal and all the things Morgana could never be? Tears sprang to her eyes as her cheek roared, but somehow she blinked them all away and returned her steely gaze to her tormentor.
"If you ever, EVER talk about her like that again, I swear I'll…"
"You'll what? You'll kill me, lock me up, torture me? Go on, Arthur Pendragon, do your worst, I dare you! Let's see how much of Uther's son you really are!"
"Shut up, Morgana! I am warning you."
"Come on, hit me again. HIT ME AGAIN! Or are you too much of a coward? Even Guinevere, your poor little loyal lapdog, wasn't satisfied with you. Lancelot, his name was, wasn't it? How many more, Arthur? How many more did she invite into your bed?"
That done it. He flew off the handle, totally and completely. He pommeled her with his fists, blind to her sporadic cries as the rage consumed him. The truth hurt and he wanted to make her hurt, just for her to stop dragging up the cruel past. She had pressed herself against the wall and just waited for it to end, helpless to do anything else. A small part of her was happy that she'd managed to enrage him, it was so easy, but the other part of her, the more sensible part, cursed herself for the fresh wave of pain. Arthur ceased the blows and she breathed out again, wincing at the sharp pain in her ribs. No doubt some were cracked. She wheezed, trying to recover from the attack.
"You do not speak of her that way!" he threatened.
"I speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," she quipped. Something propelled her to get the upper hand, just for the satisfaction of it after everything else was lost.
His steel-capped boot collided with her leg and instinctively she tried to kick out, cursing him when she was unable to because of those damned restraints.
"Not so powerful now, my lady," he said, mockingly.
"Go to hell," she spat back.
"You first," he hissed, dangerously.
"I would have thought you wanted to join Gwen there, keep her company as you scream for your sins."
"And why would I leave if I can hear you scream for your sins instead?"
"So much like our father, brother. What happened to make you so full of hate?"
"You did!"
"Still, you've completed your life's purpose. I'm sure daddy would be very proud of you, torturing a helpless victim." She said it all with a very small smile. A girl had to have some entertainment, did she not?
"I tire of this, Morgana. When will you learn?"
Hope blossomed in her. Had she finally wore him down enough for him to just kill her? And then he looked upon her with amusement and smirked, as she had done so often.
"There are plenty of guards who would be honoured to continue my work here, people more immune to your annoyance."
Arthur watched, pleased, as she seemed to break her resolve a little. At his threat, fear knotted in her stomach. Despite his cold callousness towards her, she knew, deep down, that he had limits he would never cross. She knew in her heart that he wasn't as heartless as he was acting and that if she was truly desperate, he would relent. But with the guards, they were even more unpredictable than him and would doubtless enjoy nothing more than hearing her scream and cry and break at their hand. Although it was Arthur's purpose too, he somehow was not as intimidating. Perhaps because she could manipulate him more easily. So, she looked down to the ground to give him no reason to make good of his threat. She harboured no desire to be subjected to more than she was already.
"You're scared of my guards," he ridiculed her.
"I fear no-one least of all those bloody oafs," she retorted, snapping her head up, refusing to stay silent with his taunt.
"Then you won't have any objections if I invite my good friend Rob in…" he toyed with her.
Morgana held back her biting response, determined to avoid confrontation with him. While she wanted to escape the next step, she would be damned before she ever admitted to being afraid of them. And she wasn't truly anyway. The thought of what they could do to her while she was so helpless scared her as did the fact that she was close to being in agonising pain. She'd only held out thus far using the control techniques her sister had shared with her. Memories of those two long years haunted her. She was sure that rape was not off limits to Camelot's guards and that was something she just couldn't handle.
"Well, you still refuse to answer any of my questions… Perhaps Rob might be able to loosen your tongue for me…" said Arthur "And I could really do with a hot meal. I'm starving!"
The High Priestess ignored him for the most part but her stomach thought otherwise. She was desperately hungry after not eating properly for several days due to the fact that she couldn't hunt or cook nearly as well without her magic to aid her. Her mouth was dry and her lips cracked, too. She would kill for some water at least.
"Getting another man to do your job for you, Arthur? Too weak to see it through to the end, are we?" she taunted as he rose from his kneeling position.
"Maybe that's the problem. Maybe I am too weak. But Rob was always one of my father's finest. I heard he once tore a man apart with his bare hands." He was trying to scare her and was doing a damn good job of it.
"You would leave me in the hands of someone like that. Your own sister!" She was all too aware of how frail and terrified her voice sounded and if they weren't already doing it to her, she would have kicked herself for her weakness.
"Are you feeling remorseful yet?" he asked her.
"No." Her defiance came back with a vengeance.
"Then I shall see you later, sister. Don't have too much fun without me." He walked out of the door, his dark laugh remaining for a few seconds.
As soon as he left, she struggled pathetically against her bonds. But this wasn't even rope, there was no-one left and there was no-one left to save her from this hell.
When Rob entered, she paled drastically at his sheer size and Arthur's suddenly seem quite so false anymore. He was walking towards her slowly, enjoying drawing it out, just as she'd predicted. A leering grin spread across his dirty face. Thankfully, he couldn't see her dreadful paleness in the barely there light. Please, no, she prayed in her mind. She didn't know if she could handle any more, especially from him.
"Keep away from me!" she demanded, surprising herself by the strength and conviction in her voice.
She'd been lucky with Arthur, she realised all too late. Rob struck her hard across the face for her insolence, splitting her lip and causing yet more blood to gather. What had her wretched mouth got her into now? Her and her stupid, suddenly vengeful brother. He'd just had to decide to grow a spine at the moment when she was at her weakest. It wasn't even as if she'd attack Camelot in months nor had she any plans to do so. She was considering just leaving and starting in some far off village where her reputation was unknown. But, oh no, he had to find and capture her, locking her in Camelot's dungeons, the last place on earth where she wanted to be.
All her thoughts were discarded by another blow followed by another and so on. It was a constant stream of pain, blurred together so much that Morgana had no idea which area of her body was being brutalised before he struck her elsewhere. She screwed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry, prayed that she did not lose her dignity too. While she was reluctant to cry for Arthur, she would rather drown in her own blood than appear weak in front of this barbarian.
But it hurt. It hurt so much…