"What did you do to it?" Morgana asked cautiously.
Merlin couldn't think of an easy way to explain what he had done to it, or why he did it. He didn't even know if it had worked at all. After all, putting three different enchantments on one amulet was pretty difficult, if not impossible. But all the spells were needed, even if it was only to give Merlin piece of mind.
"Well, I can't watch you 24 hours a day…" Merlin paused, hoping she might twig onto what he was trying to say and finish it for him, even if it was to shout at him like usual.
Morgana only gave him an even more confused look than ever, forcing him to continue. "This necklace will allow me to know where you are at all times… hopefully." Merlin said the last part quietly, not wanting Morgana to know his doubt that the spell had even worked.
Merlin watched as the gem of the necklace turned from vibrant blue to a deep purple.
"You have to be kidding!" Morgana shouted, (which didn't surprise Merlin in the slightest.) "I am NOT having you stalking me!"
"Actually the whole point of it was so I don't have to stalk you." Merlin replied calmly.
Morgana quickly grabbed the fastening of the necklace and attempted to undo it.
"Wait." Merlin asked rather than ordered, while raising his arms to grab her hands, gently bringing them down and holding them between them both.
Morgana stared at their enjoined hands in shock, but didn't attempt to pull away.
"The necklace is not just for my benefit but for yours as well."
Morgana gave him a questioning look. "Mmm… constantly being on your radar has always been my lifelong dream." Morgana replied sarcastically.
Merlin completely ignored her and continued his explanation. "Without your magic Morgana, you are defenceless without me, defenceless against your enemies and the enemies of Camelot," Merlin paused when he noticed the stone dim down to a lilac colour, and felt a grin at the corners of his mouth.
"It's working." He thought.
"This necklace will protect you."
Merlin let out a deep sigh when he had finally finished explaining, and even though Morgana's expression hadn't changed, he already knew he had won, for the final use of the necklace was only evident in the colour of the stone; her emotions. Considering her emotions were the trigger to get her powers back, he needed to keep a close eye on them, and considering how well Morgana was at concealing her emotions, this seemed like the best option. Fortunately the only person who could see the constant change in the necklace's colour was him, preventing anyone from getting suspicious, including Morgana.
"Oh, I see." Morgana said finally, slowly pulling her hands from Merlin's grip which instantly made Merlin draw back his hands.
Merlin was surprised when Morgana fell silent; staring at her bare feet, her necklace turning to an even lighter blue than it was originally.
"Morgana?"
Morgana met his eyes with a big smile on her face. "I'm fine." Morgana replied uncertainly.
Merlin tilted his head to look at her carefully, which only made her loose eye contact and begin to laugh.
"You just wait until I get my powers back Merlin."
It wasn't a threat, well, it didn't sound like a threat, or look like it considering a wide smile was still on her face, convincing Merlin to smile back.
He watched as Morgana strutted to her wardrobe, pulled out a pair of green slip-on shoes and began to squeeze her left foot into it, struggling.
"Looks like you might have grown in the two and a half years since you last wore them." Merlin stated while trying not to laugh; which became far easier when Morgana shot his a warning look.
"They don't fit!" Morgana bellowed, kicking the shoe into the wardrobe door.
"Are you sure?" Merlin asked after a few seconds.
Morgana glared at him once more and began waving her arms in the air like a women possessed. "Of course I'm bloody sure you idiot, did you not just see me try to put them on and fail miserably!"
"When the necklace turns red, she's obviously angry." Merlin noted in his head.
"Maybe you should try again." Merlin suggested chirpily.
Morgana looked at him like he had lost the plot, before giving up and placing her foot into the shoe she hadn't flung into the wardrobe door. To Morgana's astonishment her foot slid in perfectly, as did the other.
Morgana gave Merlin an accusing look.
"Stop that." She ordered before storming over to the door.
Merlin smiled to himself before following behind her until he was at the lead, and opened the door with his magic.
Merlin took a quick glance back to notice Morgana was smiling also, and turned left down the corridor.
It was gone midday when Merlin waltzed into Gaius's chambers; far happier than necessary, but he couldn't help it. He felt like he had taken a huge step forward with Morgana this morning, and it was only day two. Maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as he thought.
Gaius was stood over his usual workbench, mixing some sort of potion. He looked straight to the door when Merlin walked in, wearing a blank expression.
"Merlin." He greeted, following Merlin with his eyes and body as he speed-walked into his bedroom.
"Good morning Gaius." Merlin replied from his room as he grabbed a few bags from the corner and began gathering various pieces of clothing that covered the floor.
Gaius now stood in the doorway, hands linked in front of him.
"Good afternoon more like."
Merlin looked up from packing to see Gaius staring at him, eyebrows rising as soon as eye contact was made. It was the look that unsettled Merlin often, when he knew Merlin was lying or he had done something wrong.
He held his gaze for as long as possible before he broke under the pressure.
"What?" Merlin asked cautiously while trying to continue packing without actually watching what he was doing.
"Did you knick my breakfast this morning?"
Before Merlin could even attempt to answer, the sound of girly giggling pulled both of their attentions to the front door, where Morgana stood, propping herself up against the door frame in order to keep herself from falling to the floor in laughter.
"Morgana." Gaius greeted in the same tone he had used to greet Merlin, before returning his attention back to Merlin.
"You didn't tell me she was here." Gaius said quietly, annoyance and fear in his voice.
"Morgana's here." Merlin joked as he continued packing.
Morgana walked gracefully to Merlin's bedroom door, standing next to Gaius without making eye contact, like she didn't really acknowledge he was there.
"When you said there were consequences for creating your own breakfast you weren't kidding."
Merlin stared at the still giggling Morgana, before shifting his eyes to Gaius; his jaw dropped in shock.
"Merlin what is she…"
"She knows." Merlin interrupted quickly, dreading Gaius's reactions.
"Morgana must never find out who you really are…" Gaius's words repeated in his head; he had promised himself she would never find out, not until there was no hope of finding another way to stop her from destroying his destiny, from destroying Arthur, and the only way to stop her was to reveal his secret to her before she was plunged into death.
Merlin shook the thoughts from his head; the last thing he wanted to be thinking of right now was killing her, destroying the beautiful smile that was being shot his way right at this very moment.
"Anyway Gaius, since when did you have a large bowl of fruit for breakfast?" Merlin asked although he wasn't sure he would get a reply; Gaius's body was like a statue.
"I don't, I had bread, cheese and meat this morning, thought I would indulge in your absence." Gaius replied slowly, though gradually coming to terms with the new information.
"Well you can have it back if you want, since we didn't eat any of it."
Gaius returned back to his shocked state after Merlin spoke. "It's going to take a while to sink in." Merlin thought.
Morgana cleared her throat; obviously sensing the awkwardness, before her face wrinkled as she surveyed his room.
"Gees Merlin, your bedroom makes my hovel look good." She stated while eying every inch of mess in disgust. "If you make my chambers this messy or let the rotting smell from your room waft into them, I swear I will rip you apart with my bare hands." She warned while pointing a finger at him for effect.
Merlin merely rolled his eyes.
"Really Morgana? I've been a servant for over six years now. I think I am more than capable of keeping a room clean."
"Well then why don't you keep your own clean then?" Morgana asked while crossing her arms, obviously enjoying the argument, (the necklace told him that much.)
"Because I can't be bothered." Merlin replied simply while slinging as many bags over his shoulder as he could, and striding past both Morgana and a still quite baffled Gaius back into the main part of Gaius's chambers.
It wasn't long before Morgana was at his side, watching him while he shoved a few books, vials and other various instruments that were obviously used for sorcery into yet another bag. Merlin had decided against putting anything to complicated or too powerful into the bag, including his own magic book just in case Morgana tried anything. He wasn't that stupid as to trust her intentions of wanting to learn good magic, (how unbelievable was that?) but still thought he could teach her something to keep up the pretence that wouldn't be backfired on him.
Merlin took a step back from the bench to see now five bags before him. He was probably going to have to make two trips to get it all back to Morgana's chambers. He didn't usually pack this much, but he didn't want to be constantly returning to Gaius's chambers for things he needed, and defiantly didn't want to be around Morgana in more than a days old clothes, which reminded him he needed to have a bath sometime soon.
"Are you ready now?" Morgana asked impatiently, already heading for the door.
Merlin awkwardly pulled the bags up over his shoulders, gave a quick goodbye smile to Gaius before the physician could gain the art of talking again, and followed Morgana out of the door.
"Promise me you won't leave me again anytime soon."
Gwen held her husband's hand tightly as they walked along the corridor together. He gazed into her loving eyes, and wondered how he had gone so long without her.
"You know I can't promise that, but I do promise it will have to be a life or death emergency to pull me away again."
"Good." Gwen replied, leaning her head against his chest when Arthur paused walking to pull her into a warm hug. He moved one hand to the back of her head to stroke her soft hair, occasionally wrapping his fingers in the loose locks.
"I love you." She whispered into his chest, nuzzling her body deeper into his embrace.
"I love you to." Arthur replied, placing a gently kiss to her forehead.
Suddenly, his attentions were fixed on the two figures moving down the corridor at a slow pace. It wasn't odd to see Merlin and Morgana walking together since he had finally got over the shock of having her return, and Merlin's absence was highly noticeable since being woken up by George, but this was a sight he didn't expect, especially so soon: They walked side by side, Merlin carrying three bags and Morgana carrying two, and both of them smiling and laughing together just like old times.
Arthur blinked his eyes a few times in case he was seeing things; he wasn't.
Gwen followed Arthur's eyes until she could see what he was looking at, and she was hardly as shocked as he was.
"What's wrong?" She asked carefully.
Arthur had heard her, but chose not to reply. Wasn't it obvious what was wrong? The sight before them wasn't right, it wasn't normal.
"Isn't that what we hoped for?" Gwen tried again, pulling Arthur's face to look her in the eyes.
"I don't like it." Arthur finally spoke, sending chills down his own spine.
What if she had done something to him? What if instead of Merlin helping Morgana change back into her old self, she would change him? After all, he knew Merlin had had feelings for her before, (which he so cleverly caught him out on,) and Merlin was such an idiot he would probably fall for her tricks.
However there was no way Morgana would have ever felt anything for him, except friendship but that was inevitable, Merlin had that effect on nearly everyone, much to Arthur's disliking.
"Arthur, everything will be fine I'm sure, don't worry about it so much. This is a good thing." Gwen reassured him, although he could sense the slight doubt in her voice.
Arthur sighed. "You are right of course." He said smiling, placing a finger under her chin to tilt her head up towards him. "What would I do without you?"
Arthur didn't leave her any time to answer, leaning in to press a kiss to her mouth. Gwen's arms stretched up and around his neck pulling him in deeper, and Arthur's hands moved to caress her sides. Suddenly all worries seamed lost in this moment, like the only thing in the world that was important right now was Gwen, and Arthur wished it could remain like that forever.
xxx So what do you guys think of this chapter? I hope you liked the Arthur and Gwen bit in there even if it was a bit short, but if you would like me to add a bit more of them to future chapters please let my know xxx
