"MERLIN!"
An angry yell woke him with a start. He hastily got out of bed and rounded the corner to where her bed was. Morgana was sitting up, hugging her knees, with an icy glare burning into him.
"You poisoned me."
Merlin sat down gingerly on the foot of her bed.
"You POSIONED me!" She shouted, and he jumped.
" I trusted you! You and Gwen and Arthur. How could you? How could you do something like that to me? You were my friend!" she yelled at him. "You tried to kill me, and now you say you're looking after me? I don't believe you! I can't believe anything you say! I can't believe anything anyone says, ever again! I hate you!"
The flower Merlin had put into a jar on her bedside table burst into flames.
Morgana yelped and the flower extinguished itself.
They sat in silence. Merlin stared at the embers glowing in the pile of disintegrated flower petals.
He thought maybe she was crying, but he pretended not to notice. He didn't want to injure her pride any further.
"Go back to bed Merlin." She sighed, finally breaking the silence.
He got up slowly, and turned to walk away, before turning back.
"Morgana?"
She looked at him.
"I… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He turned and quickly walked away. Now he was the one who was crying.
When Morgana woke again in the morning there was a fresh blue flower in the jar next to her bed, leaning over a small pile of ashes.
•••
In the weeks that followed, Morgana and Merlin had the same conversation every night. Every night she would call for him, and he would appear a minute later, sit on the foot of her bed, and let her yell at him. When she was done, he'd apologise and leave.
In the morning, anything she'd broken, or set fire to would be replaced, brand new.
By day Morgana could tell he was trying to keep her happy. They had a few awkward conversations. He demonstrated his juggling skills to her, with some apples. That made her laugh again, especially when he dropped them and had to go diving under the bed to retrieve them. It reminded her briefly of her friend Merlin, before everything had gone wrong.
He tried to heal her. She knew there were deep cuts running up her back that would be in need of treatment soon. She hadn't told him about those yet. So far she had only let him apply an ointment to prevent her fingers from becoming infected where the nails had been torn away, and wash the scratches on her arms.
"What are these from?" He had asked.
It stang and she winced. Aithusa had scratched her. She knew she hadn't meant it; the poor creature had been in pain. Morgana had bitten her lip as tears prickled in the corners of her eyes. She wasn't about to cry while he was watching.
Late one afternoon, an excited Merlin bounded around the corner from the exit of the cave.
"I've got a surprise!" He beamed.
His smile was infectious.
"What is it?" she asked, trying not to smile back.
He sat down on the foot of her bed, smiling expectantly at the exit. Morgana crawled slowly out of bed and settled down next to him, bemused.
Around the corner came Aithusa.
She walked cautiously, trying not to knock things over. Looking around, she saw Morgana and squealed in delight and ran over to her, forgetting to be careful, and knocking over a mirror, breaking it.
Morgana didn't care. Aithusa looked much healthier. She would be forever twisted; her bones having grown the wrong shape, but she had began to grow to a more comfortable looking size.
"Aithusa," Morgana hugged the dragon. "Aithusa I'm so sorry."
Merlin watched the pair embrace. Morgana radiated happiness. He hadn't seen her so happy in a long time, in fact the only time in many years he had seen her happy at all was when she had seen Aithusa fly, a few weeks earlier. When she finally broke away, she turned around and hugged Merlin as well. He hadn't been expecting this. Suddenly she was the old Morgana again. Warm and compassionate. She pulled away, and focused back on Aithusa, murmuring to her. Then she was the tortured Morgana again. When she smiled, it wasn't fake, but it looked pained. She was the Morgana Merlin hadn't helped, when he could've – should've, all those years ago.
•••
The nightly 'conversations' continued. Morgana raged at him about his support for Arthur, how he had poisoned her, how he had killed Morgause, how he had betrayed her by not helping her. She fought him bitterly, punching, hitting biting, but he wouldn't fight back.
She realised one day that although everything she broke was replaced, he never healed the cuts and bruises she inflicted on him.
Finally, there came a night she didn't call for him. Merlin woke up as he was used to, and lay awake waiting for her to yell for him. It was silent. He frowned, got up and crept to the down the small corridor and peeked around the corner of the cave to where her bed was.
She was sitting cross-legged on the foot of the bed, watching him. He pulled back against the wall quickly. She was still quite terrifying when she wanted to be.
"Merlin."
Her voice cut through the air, but she wasn't yelling. Merlin took a deep breath and rounded the corner, smiling awkwardly.
She raised an eyebrow and he gulped.
"Do you want to sit down?" She asked.
He nodded, quickly sitting next to her.
"I've made a decision." She told him. "I've decided to forgive you. For everything that you did."
Merlin looked up in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yes. And… I hope you can forgive me too." She added. "I realise for everything you did to me, I hurt you too. The only thing I cannot yet forgive you for is Morgause's death. She was my sister, and the first person I trusted completely, ever and since. You have no idea how hard it is to lose someone so important." She sniffed.
"I've lost people too." Merlin replied gently.
She stared at her lap.
"I'm sorry."
There was a long pause.
"Do you remember the time you strung me up from the ceiling?" He inquired.
"Yes." She couldn't help but smirk.
"Just checking."
There was another pause.
Morgana lay down on the bed.
"Lie next to me."
He did.
"How did you find me Merlin? The Sarrum locked me away in the dark."
"It was luck." He replied. "I was passing through Amata."
"How can it have been luck? I was hidden." She insisted.
He frowned. What should he tell her?
The truth was Merlin had been looking for her. He was prepared to search the five kingdoms, but he had had a hunch. The Sarrum was known for his hatred of magic. It had seemed as good a place as any to begin. He had snuck into the castle, followed the King to a dungeon of sorts. He had used magic to hide himself, under the King's nose and he had listened, hopelessly to Morgana crying. She had been pleading with the Sarrum to let her dragon go. Merlin had heard the Sarrum's laughter bouncing off the walls, and he had heard Aithusa's screams mix with Morgana's. He had waited in the darkness, listening. Once he heard the Sarrum leave, he had waited until Morgana's screams faded to crying. Eventually, even that faded away, and in the silence he had finally lifted the lid off of her prison and set her free.
How could he tell her that?
"Don't tell me then." She sighed. "But you will one day."
After a while, a deep sigh broke Merlin's train of thought. Morgana had fallen asleep next to him. Her face had softened, but she still looked exhausted. Dark rings sat under her eyes, and her clothes were in tatters. Her arms had improved, but her face and neck were still bruised, and her skin was almost translucent. He wondered how long it was since she had been in the sun.
An idea struck him. He knew what he could do for her. He got up quietly and rummaged through some of his bags. Finally he found what he had been looking for. It was a potato sack, as far as he knew, but he had brought it with them to carry any food he could gather and collect. His eyes flashed gold, three times. He smiled as he lay back down on the bed next to Morgana. Blue would suit her.
•••
Thank you to everyone for all your positive feedback so far! It's pretty amazing! I've officially been writing for just over a month now! Bit of a milestone, thought I'd mention it. I've never been very good at creative writing. I think hopefully writing about something I love might change that a little. Tell me what you think! What do you think should happen next? Will update soon xx