If It Turns To Chaos

Chapter Eight.


'I want to see her.'

The armory had been empty, Gwaine taking longer than usual to hang up his chainmail just for a moment of peace. The young knight's voice had snapped him out of not one, but the many reveries his mind had been dallying in.

'And Arthur said...?' he prompted, standing up and placing his sword on the rack.

'The King is not the problem,' Mordred replied.

Gwaine laughed, shaking his head. 'The problem is she won't see you,' he surmised. Mordred nodded. Gwaine finally stopped and looked at Mordred curiously but skeptically. 'And what makes you think I have any bearing whatsoever on her decisions?' While it didn't really surprise Gwaine that Morgana would refuse visitors, her denial of him seemed to trouble Mordred exceedingly. Despite Gwaine's scoffing, Mordred stood firm.

'She spent a month in a forest with you. She opened up to you. She returned to Camelot with you. Are you honestly telling me you have no influence with her?' Mordred demanded. Gwaine now sent him a slightly incredulous look in an effort to deter him and made no reply. Beseechingly, and in a way that made it hard to refuse the young knight, Mordred added, 'She listens to you.'

With a conceding sigh Gwaine put a hand on Mordred's shoulder. 'I can't promise anything,' he warned. Mordred was right about the time they had spent together, but in that time Morgana had barely mentioned the boy. 'Somehow I think this goes beyond me. But I'll see what I can do.'

He made his way to Morgana's room, merely shrugging at Galahad and Bedivere who stood guard. They unlocked the door without question and let him in – he'd already visited her numerous times in the three days she had been held there.

She didn't look up at him when he entered, no doubt already knowing it was him, so he eyed her critically, trying to discern how she was. She stared ahead, with a look that said she was somewhere else.

'What are you thinking of?' His voice wasn't any more than a murmur, but it was enough to cause her to look over at him.

'Honestly, very little.' She nodded decisively, but smiled. 'The less I think, the less I feel.'

'You're scared?'

'I wasn't going to say, but yes.'

Gwaine grimaced at her response, but he knew she didn't want to talk about it so he moved on to something she'd probably want to talk of even less.

'Why won't you see him?'

Morgana instantly knew whom he meant. 'Gwaine,' she said warningly, her smiled faded.

'I'm just asking,' he defended. She huffed and crossed her arms.

'Why?'

'Because he's desperate to see you and he seems to think I can do something to change your mind.'

'He would be wrong.' Surprise, surprise, like he had even expected anything different.

'Yes,' Gwaine pressed on despite her standoffish attitude. 'So I'm asking you why. You've never talked about it; all I know is from Merlin… And I want to know. So I need you to fill in some gaps here.'

She stared out the window and into oblivion. 'It's because I can't put him through any more pain.'

'And refusing to see him isn't hurting him?'

'It won't hurt as much as him seeing me will; seeing how much I still care and then seeing Arthur kill me.' she replied, not coldly, but with a steely tone all the same.

'Hurt him, or hurt you?' he commented, highly suspecting that the later was playing some part in her decision-making.

'This conversation is over Gwaine.' she shot sharply, then pausing with a sigh, obviously struggling to keep her temper. 'You infuriate me,' she huffed like a petulant child, causing him to smile. It was confirmation enough that he was right as well.

'Good, someone has to.' He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He wondered if she had often been comforted in her life; first as the out-of-reach lady, and then the wicked sorceress. '… Arthur's not going to kill you.'

'You can't know that.'

'I won't let him.' Or at least if he could prevent it, he'd die with her.


They had all gathered around the table, Arthur at its head. Gwaine had spoken, Kay had scowled, old Lords had questioned and Gaius had assured everyone that there was absolutely nothing to suggest he was under her spell. However it all came down to proof. Evidence that she could be trusted and the eradication of all doubt.

First the elderly physician pushed an old tome towards the king, open to somewhere in its middle. 'I believe this to be the spell Morgana may have been controlled by. It supports her story, and I believe Morgause to be capable of such a thing.'

'Against her own sister?' asked one of the Lords.

Gwaine shook his head. 'You did not see them. Morgause took genuine pleasure in Morgana's pain. And the hatred Morgana showed in return… I think she truly would have killed Morgause given the chance. It was no act.'

'The must be a way to ascertain, without doubt, the truth from Morgana.' Arthur said.

'I think I may be of some help here Sire.' This time Gaius placed a small vial in front of Arthur. It held a light blue liquid. 'This was used by the High Priestesses of old to obtain the truth from those they judged. It was used in grave matters, often when it was one man's word against another.'

'It's a truth potion?'

'Yes Sire. If what Morgana says is true then she should not object to taking it.'

Gwaine watched from the edge of the throne room as Morgana was led in and placed before the King. She looked terrified, and Gwaine – who had never been one for nervousness before – shifted anxiously. Arthur himself looked like he would give anything to be anywhere else, and he clutched Gwen's hand like a lifeline. Mordred, ultimately unable to convince Morgana to see him, now stared at her intensely as if he was trying very hard not say anything. Murmurs rustled all through the room, though to Gwaine they might as well been yelling, until at last Arthur called everyone to order. The trial of Morgana Pendragon had begun.

First Gaius gave her the potion in clear view of everyone. The effect instantaneous, Morgana's eyes became a little glassy and she released the breath she had been holding. Then the questioning started. Gwaine could help but clench his teeth as he listened to them ask her what had happened, her intentions, how, all about Morgause, the escape. And then repeat the process in different words. His agitation must have been noticeable because Percival clapped a hand on his shoulder in support. But Gwaine barely reacted, his entire focus on Morgana and not giving into the urge to step in and say enough. They had heard enough, surely.

Then finally Arthur held up a hand, a universal signal for silence. For a moment he was lost in thought and then realization dawned on his face. 'You never meant to hurt us, did you?' he asked simply, a small smile beginning to form. Morgana solemnly shook her head, the tears in her eyes unmistakable.

Arthur looked to Gwen for guidance and her assent, and must have found it because he raised his voice to address to fill the hall. 'Morgana, you are hereby found not guilty of treason. Any past actions against this kingdom are deemed the work of the sorceress Morgause. As King of Camelot, I fully acquit you and restore you to the station of Lady of Camelot.' With a widening smile he finished, 'My decision is final.' Standing he approached and embraced her, and after a moment of shock she returned the gesture.