A/N: Here we go – I hope it's getting more interesting, don't worry the good bit's to come but you'll have to wait! *smiles evilly* Reviews make me happy – simple as. And the more reviews I get, the faster I write (not like I am blackmailing you or anything...) I know that this is really long but it kinda needs to be so enjoy! :D Go one, click the little blue button – you know you want to...
#~MERLIN~#
"Merlin." No reply. "Merlin." No reply. "MERLIN!"
"Huh, wha-"
"Glad to finally get a response from you. For a moment I thought you'd fallen asleep in the middle of a COUNCIL MEETING." Merlin quickly looked around and saw everyone in the room staring at him as he remembered that he was actually in the middle of a council meeting and had gone off into a daze half way through. "If Merlin's finished his nap then perhaps we can actually get back to the agenda for today." Merlin just rolled his eyes as everyone turned back towards the King. "As I was saying, we have reports from the lower town that there have been a few cases of an illness recently and last night a man apparently died because of it. I hope this will not be an epidemic but the symptoms are strange and it strikes quickly so we must be prepared. Apparently, the man that died had contracted the disease only a few days before." The last statement caused murmurs to break out across the hall – an illness that could be lethal within days? It could cause havoc and devastation across the kingdom.
"What is strange about the symptoms, sire?" A voice asked from the far side of the hall
"There are the usual common ones like a developing cough and fever but what's strange is a faint mark that appeared on the back of his hand which grew darker over the days." Anticipating the next question, he added "It was a black 'M' that appeared." Arthur's eyes saddened at the thought that everybody in the room was having at that same moment – Morgana. Merlin looked up at his friend and saw the pain and hurt of her betrayal still clear in his mind as he sighed heavily knowing that if Morgana was indeed responsible then it would be bad – very bad. But as soon as Arthur had shown any kind of emotion connected with his half-sister it was gone in a flash with the hard, strong exterior of the great ruler returning as the meeting continued.
"So Merlin, I need you to go down to the lower town and check on those who have the reported cases and you need to see exactly how that man died – bring Alexa if you need any extra help." Merlin twitched slightly at the mention of his missing ward which didn't go unnoticed by the king "This will hopefully just pass but we have to be prepared just in case – Council dismissed."
#~MERLIN~#
When Merlin arrived back to his chambers he was relieved to find Alexa sat at the table fully engrossed in one of the books on human anatomy, he never quite understood how she found any of it interesting at all. She didn't notice him as he sneaked quietly through the door but his usual clumsy nature took over and decided that he was going to trip over a mop that he swore wasn't there before. She jerked up from the book startled at the sudden noise before seeing that it was only Merlin and relaxing slightly only to freeze again after she remembered that she had actually been gone for the whole day without telling anyone where she was. She lifted her head with a guilty expression dreading what was going to happen next but instead was surprised when all he did was sit next to her at the table, no anger, no shouting, nothing.
"So..." Merlin said breaking the awkward silence between the two. No-one spoke for a couple more seconds before Alexa suddenly blurted out
"I'm sorry! Really, I am! I didn't mean to, I just... lost track of time and then I got a bit lost and I didn't know where I was going or where Camelot was or anything and I tried to get back after I realised something but then I couldn't and then you weren't here when I came back so I tried to ask Gwen's servant Mary if she'd seen you but then she said that you were in a council meeting with King Arthur and I didn't know what to do and then-"
Merlin smiled and waved a hand to stop her panicked rant. "It's ok, but I was worried – you should have left a note or something. I checked you're room and you were just gone – you shouldn't scare me like that but you're sensible and I knew that you'd probably not gone of that far but still. A bit of warning please next time!" He chuckled, a small smile appeared on her lips "And Ade and Kay – well maybe not Kay as much – were worried about you too. Oh and because you missed your lesson you'll have to catch up so" he dumped a pile of old looking heavy books in front of her "here!" She groaned and coughed at the same time due to the amount of dust they had just created.
"Where did you go?" He asked casually whilst going to the bookshelf to research the new illness.
"Well... um... out?" Alexa mumbled feebly to which he gave her a 'is that the best you can do' look
"Where?"
"The forest?"
"What were you doing in the forest? You know it's dangerous there, bandits round every corner if you go past the southern path! Thank God you didn't..." Her eyes widened as she hastily shoved her head back into the book she was reading.
"Oh Alexa! People have died there – good, careful, armed people! How could you have been so stupid – you know not to go past there! Just be thankful you didn't run into any bandits and don't do it again." He sighed and sat back down again "What would have happened if you had got hurt - nobody knew where you were. Imagine what would have happened if we had lost you; think of how many would be hurt." He turned to look at her straight in the eye "Promise me you won't do anything stupid like that again."
"I promise." She promised honestly but for some reason she doubted that she could keep it.
#~MERLIN~#
Day 1
In the lower town Merlin had set about his work which meant checking on those who had supposedly contracted the illness. His first stop was to Mrs Coulter, the wife of the flower shop owner who had shown symptoms of a cough and a light fever the night before. He knocked gently at the door of their small house and waited for someone to answer. After a couple of minutes a young boy opened the door chewing at his sleeve – he couldn't have been over 4 years old and he had rough, dark brown hair that only barely allowed him to see underneath.
"Hi, I'm Merlin the physician – I've come to see your mummy, can I come in?" Merlin asked kindly bending down to the child's level, the little boy nodded his head slowly still chewing on his sleeve and led him into the house. He disappeared behind a screen before reappearing and beckoning Merlin to follow him through. The little boy ran over to his father who was sat by the bedside of his wife and promptly sat on his lap with his arms around his neck.
"Hello Mr Coulter, I'm the physician that you called for last night so can I just check on your wife and make sure she's ok?"
"Right, yes." He replied quietly moving back to allow Merlin passed but not letting go of her hand. She looked quite sick and her skin was sallow and grey but her cheeks were tinged with a fever and she was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Suddenly she began coughing harshly and painfully into a piece of cloth her husband had passed to her but Merlin was shocked when he saw flecks of blood on it and quickly set about checking all of her vital signs. Her pulse wasn't as strong as he'd have liked and her breathing was quite shallow in between coughs but what had worried Merlin the most was the dark bruise like mark on her hand in the shape of an M.
"When did this first appear?" He asked
"I'm not sure – a few days ago I think..." Replied Mr Coulter before he turned back o his ailing wife and began stroking her hair.
"I'm going to give her a very powerful tonic now because I don't think that anything else will work. Her breathing should improve almost immediately and she should get a bit more colour in her skin but I have to warn you – it is going to taste disgusting so I'll need your help administrating it. The other man just nodded and helped lift her head off from the bed so she could swallow the disgusting contents of the vial in Merlin's hand. They waited a couple of seconds and Merlin began to frown when nothing happened. He tried a healing spell next even though he wasn't very good at them it was still worth a try – nothing happened. He tried again and again but after many failed attempts he gave Mr Coulter a few vials of a bluish coloured liquid that she was to take everyday to get rid of the fever and hopefully cure her but Merlin wasn't too sure – no illness he'd come across had ever resisted as many treatments but he had to hope and so with more cases to see, he left the family alone in the small house.
Day 2
More cases had appeared in the lower city with one in the upper town. Still, none of Merlin's treatments were working and a young boy had succumbed to his condition during the night. Mrs Coulter made no improvement and Merlin began to panic because nothing seemed to be working but he went around to everyone who was ill to try and help but nothing made even the slightest improvement. They all had the same symptoms – a painful, racking cough and a fever but most of all the black mark on the backs of their hands. The total number of people infected now had gone up to 8.
Day 3
Even more people were getting sick now and it had now claimed two more lives – the man with the first case from the upper town and Mrs Coulter. People were beginning to get scared but Merlin tried his best to reassure them by saying that it would simply pass but he doubted that it ever would. He now began looking into the cause of this disease, knowing now that it wasn't some normal sickness he was looking up magical means but still nothing seemed to fit the description of it. He was going to have to tell Arthur. He had found him easily enough in his chambers happily eating away at his massive lunch – some things never changed.
"You'd want to slow down or you're going to have to put another hole in your belt!" Merlin joked walking into the room.
"I am perfectly fit thank you very much, Merlin!" He said after taking another bite from his chicken drumstick.
"If you say so – but you've got to admit that the chainmail's starting to get a bit tight..."
"Merlin! What was it that you wanted to talk about anyway?"
"The illness from a couple of days ago has become more widespread and more have died – I fear that this is an epidemic Arthur. We need to start making emergency plans in case the worst happens. We may need to set up an infirmary for all of those who are sick and try and stop it from spreading."
"Haven't you been able to find a cure?" Arthur asked confused
"No, nothing is working – not even magic." He said sadly, maybe if he was better at healing spells he could stop it and stop those innocent people from dying. Arthur frowned and stood up drinking his wine whilst moving to look out of the window.
"Well, keep trying and I agree – we should start making plans."
"If that's all sire..." Merlin said before turning to leave
"No Merlin, wait," He froze and turned around "Something's been upsetting you, I can tell. Don't try and deny it or come up with an excuse – come on, talk."
Merlin sighed and decided not to protest knowing it would get him nowhere. "It... It's Alexa. I'm not sure what to do, I mean I didn't really believe it but after I talked to Kilgharrah..."
"Whoa – slow down! What didn't you believe?"
"Ok, well don't take this the wrong way or anything, I'm sure that it's not true and that it can change – she doesn't want to do anything wrong, I'm sure of it but it's just been on my mind ever since..."
"Merlin. Ever since what?"
"Ever since she told me that it... it was her destiny to, well, kill me." Arthur almost choked on his wine and instead spat it out onto the floor.
"WHAT?"
"Don't get mad Arthur! She wouldn't do it! I know she wouldn't! But it's just that Kilgharrah told me to stay away because apparently she's my doom and so now I don't know what to think! I love her like the daughter I never had but I just don't know what to do. Is she really capable of that?"
"Merlin – if this is true then she's dangerous. Stay away from her – I don't care how but just do. If I have to banish her then so be it but she will fulfil it because you are your destiny so just please, stay away. I know you care about her but that's blinding you to what she could do – just like Mor-... Just like I didn't realise about Morgana." Merlin shook his head angrily
"No, she's nothing like her! Maybe I can stop it from happening! The future's not set in stone! Alexa is nothing like Morgana! Don't even think about banishing her – she has done nothing wrong! You'd destroy her life because of something she was born into, just like I was to magic – you'd be persecuting someone for being born! Just like Uther." And with that Merlin stormed out, leaving behind a very shocked Arthur.
Day 4
The death toll had risen to 20 with the number of people with the illness at 43 and rising. No-one had ever seen anything like it before and now it had spread to the upper city as well. It was affecting everyone – young, old, strong, weak, men and women. Nothing could stop it.
Alexa waited patiently for Merlin to return – it was well past midnight and he still wasn't back. She knew there was an illness but she didn't know much else apart from the fact that it was spreading rapidly. A guilty feeling started to rise up her throat – people had said that a black M appeared on those who were sick; M for Morgana – she was sure. Was this somehow connected to her and their meeting the other night? She hoped not but she couldn't rule out the possibility. Around ten minutes later she heard quick footsteps and saw someone fly through the door – it was Merlin but he looked panicked and worried.
"Grab that book on the table and take as many of the tonics that I made on the table! Quick!" Merlin said whilst also taking a handful of potions and herbs and rushing back out of the door. She did as she was told and quickly ran after him down the corridor.
"What's wrong?" she asked, growing increasingly worried as she realised where they were headed
"It's Kay." He replied running into the young prince's bedroom. Ade, Gwen and Arthur were already there by his bedside. He was just lying there sickly looking and weak while his mother and sister cried by his side. Merlin rushed over and began preparing many different herbs and potions, she wasn't certain but she was sure that Arthur had been giving her evil glares the whole time
#~MERLIN~#
When she arrived back in her room a few hours after Merlin had come flying in she sat quietly on her bed whilst her brain tried to comprehend what had just happened – her best friend's twin and mentor's god child had just contracted a fatal illness with no cure. She wasn't sure how to feel and everything seemed so complicated, the cold draft coming through the window didn't help matters. Wait. The window wasn't open. She quickly stood up from the bed and looked around in fear when suddenly Morgana Pendragon appeared in front of her.
"What do you want?" she spat, Morgana just laughed slightly
"I would have thought that it would be obvious," she smirked
"You caused the illness didn't you!"
"Oh well done! Give the girl a prize!"
"Why? Why did you do it? Innocents are dying!"
"No one who lives under a Pendragon is innocent. And I did it because of you. You're causing this little Alexa – you."
"No! I- I wouldn't!"
"By not doing as I said and killing that traitor like your destiny says – you made me take drastic measures. However, I will stop it if you change your mind."
"No – I've told you before and I'll say it again the answer is NO!"
"Well, I'll just leave it to destroy this Camelot by wiping out all those without magic then I'll start again. Rebuild it from scratch after you watch everyone you cared about die – starting with young Kay Pendragon. Do you want him to die because you are too selfish? Do you want the women and children to die in pain and agony because you aren't doing the one thing you were born to do? Well, if that's your final answer – goodbye!"
"Wait!" Alexa shouted "Wait." She said quieter regretting her decision already "I'll do it."
