Weeks past slowly as the kingdom rejoiced at the return of the Lady Morgana. She made me believe that she had had repented of her ways and forgiven me for my betrayal…until she turned on Camelot again. As I watched her remove the Mandrake root from Uther's bed I had felt a rage so intense that I barely felt like myself. I followed her from the castle, only to be led into her trap. She looked down at me with scorn written all over her face.
"Did you really think I was that stupid Merlin?" She had asked. I didn't know the answer anymore. I tried and failed to run from her and her half sister but was caught before I could run a hundred feet, before being chained to the forest floor.
"Can you leave us Morgause?" I had never heard Morgana's voice so full of authority and contempt.
"Of course sister." She knew that Morgana was probably going to exact some terrible torture on me, and didn't care at all. What was more, she probably enjoyed the idea. Morgause left and Morgana turned to me, graceful even with her face cold and her eyes filled with malice.
"You poisoned me Merlin." Her voice was cold, uncaring, as if it were someone else speaking.
"I know." I whispered, my voice the very opposite of hers, she didn't even seem to hear me.
"Not only that," She continued "But you couldn't even kill me like a man. No, you had me drink poison, knowing that I would trust you enough to drink it. You are a coward and a traitor." Now her voice was showing some of her pain and sadness, as much as she was trying to hide it.
"Yes." I said simply. She heard me this time and rounded on me to put her finger in my face.
"Is there nothing else you can say Merlin. Are you so pathetic that you can't even apologise. You say you were wrong but do you mean it. Or are you just trying to save your own skin once again?" I finally couldn't stand it any longer.
"Do you think I wanted to?" I screamed. "Do you think I wanted to sacrifice my best friend, committing the most unthinkable atrocity I could possible imagine because she betrayed everyone she had grown up, swearing to protect?" My voice had gone soft by the end, but was no less vehement for the fact. Morgana was the opposite and now it was her turn to start shouting.
"I didn't know! I didn't know the sickness was because of me and I never had the chance to find out. You talk about betrayal Merlin, but you now nothing of it. Betrayal is not watching someone lash out at those who hurt them. Betrayal is trying to hurt those who trust and cared about you, without them understanding why. Betrayal is poisoning your friend and watching as she gasped for air, as poison seared through her veins and having the nerve to hold her as she died by your hand." Her voice was a mere whisper by then and Merlin couldn't speak for a moment. The forest was silent as the pair stared at each other, one with anger and one with sorrow. Merlin broke the silence as he choked back a sob and broke the silence that pervaded them.
"You may have been healed of the poison Morgana, but you still died that day. The real Morgana is gone." Morgana looked hurt by his words, even as she fought to conceal it. She clenched her jaw and got right into his face.
"Maybe so. But remember this Merlin… you were the one who killed me. You made me who I am" She finally seemed to have enough of this conversation, ashamed at letting her emotions get the best of her.
"You are going to pay for what you did. You hurt me Merlin, and now I am going to hurt you, just like you deserve."
"The Morgana I know would never kill her friend, no matter what they'd done." I said, with the heart wrenching knowledge that Morgana was well and truly lost. Her lip curled as she looked at me and started to walk away from me. With each step, her shoulders straightened as she returned to her mask of confidence. Just before she crested the slope, she turned back to, her eyes once again cold and forbidding as she spoke once more before leaving me to the Serkets.
"I am not the Morgana you knew. And you are no longer my friend."