"Back so soon, brother?" A familiar voice hissed in Arthur's ear. The three men almost fell off their seats.
"I've killed you before" Merlin shrugged.
"Hmm, but I couldn't do this-" she proceeded to conjure a ball of fire in her palm "back then"
"Oh great. So now you're a fiery bitch rather than just a regular bitch." Gwaine was apparently unaffected by the fire that burned just inches from his face.
"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Sir Knight." Morgana spat back. She allowed herself a smirk, and it was enough to show the fangs behimd her lips. Enough to show that she was far more powerful now than she had been. And she knew it.
Arthur finally snapped out of his shocked trance.
"Dear me Morgana, having to do someone else's work for them? When did you sink so low?"
"Do not underestimate me, dear brother. The necromancer has no idea how powerful I really am. I have no intention of helping him."
"So you're not trying to steal Excalibur?" Gwaine blurted out, before Merlin socked him over the head.
"No. Not yet, anyway"
"You're lying" Merlin retorted cynically.
"Am I?" She smiled and turned away from them.
"How's Hell, Morgana?" Arthur called after her.
Her muscles tightened for a moment, the cruel smile faded slightly. But she quickly relaxed.
"Wonderful."
"Something tells me it's not" Gwaine mused as she left.
"How could she not love it?" Merlin snapped. He refused to believe that Morgana was anything other than pure evil.
"Didn't either of you see it? The way she reacted when you mentioned Hell. If it was 'wonderful' she wouldn't have tensed up like that" Gwaine explained.
"I didn't see her tense"
'Neither did I" Arthur and Merlin agreed.
"But she- oh, never mind"
"What makes you so eager to see the good in her?" Merlin asked.
"It doesn't matter" Gwaime muttered, barely audible.
"Spill!" Arthur shoved Gwaine's shoulder.
"I'd rather not" Gwaine replied, not looking up "but I suppose I have to"
He hesitated.
"Go on then" Arthur pressed.
"Well, she...er..."
"Get on with it" Merlin teased
"She loves- loved- me" Gwaine said bluntly.
Arthur's and Merlin's puzzled faces made him continue.
"Did you ever notice that it was always me that she caught? Well, it was. It was always me, but I never thought to question it. And every time she caught me she managed to find some new synonym for handsome, and what a shame it was that someone so handsome had to be caught and locked up... same story every time. And then there's the fact that for some reason my shirt disappeared. Every time."
"GWAINE!" Arthur exclaimed "She's still my sister, and I don't want to hear that part!"
"Sorry. Anyway one night in Ismir I got taken to her because I punched one of the guards. I needed punishment, apparently. So the left me in a room with her and shut the door. I was expecting to be thrown around the room by magic or something. But she did nothing. She stayed perfectly still. So, being me, I asked her why. She just looked blankly at me for a while, like she was trying to figure out the same thing. But if she didn't already know then that was the only sign. She just looked straight at me, and said 'I love you'. Then she just shrugged and went back to whatever she was doing. Like she hadn't just admitted to someone she was trying so hard to kill them she loved them."
Merlin's jaw hit the floor, but Arthur took everything into his stride, like it all seemed to make sense in his mind.
"So why did she kill you?"
"I don't know"
"That's why you have such a personal grudge against her? Because you loved her too or at least you would have done, if you had been on the same side."
Gwaine nodded. What he didn't know was that Morgana hadn't killed him for no other reason than spite. She had done it because, even though they could never be together, she couldn't be without him. She had known for months before that she was going to die before the year was out. And she couldn't face death alone. So, in a way, she had killed him out of love. At least, that's how she consoled herself.