hey everyone i am re updating this chapter because of the confusion between the farewells and the continuation of the battle regarding what happened to Helena. I realised that there was meant to be a line between those parts so that you could see that there was a break! so here is the reprint :)

ok here is the next chapter. once again i am sorry it took longer than expected there were as usual dramas but i wont go into them.

in this chapter the family and friends confront Nimueh's army. this chapter in focused mainly on the battle but there is also a part dedicated to when everyone has to say good bye :)

oh and to Elin Marc who asked about the extent of Merlin's power we see him doing some pretty advanced magic in this chapter :) thanks to all of you who are still reading and reviewing this; it really motivates me! :D

anyway please read, enjoy and review

Chapter 9 ~ The Battle

Arthur ducked under a sword, simultaneously thrusting his own into the things chest. Withdrawing it sharply he twirled and lobbed another's head off. He found himself suddenly back to back with Lancelot. 'Why are there so many? Helena said that there where only around a hundred and fifty of these things but it looks like there are way more'

'They're illusions' said Morgause as she came spinning past cleaving the heads off several opponents.

'Illusions?' asked Lancelot blocking a sword aimed at his hip.

'It means that there are far few of them then there appear, Nimueh must have created the illusion' replied Morgause spinning in the other direction and stopping by Morgana's side in time to block a sword aimed at her sister's head.

'What's the point of that?' asked Arthur slaying another zombie with a flick of his wrist

'The idea' Morgana slashed a zombie across its chest, sending it spinning back into the surging crowd 'is to distract us, we won't know for certain which are the real ones'

Helena appeared, Merlin next to her and said 'Arthur you are the Once and Future King, Nimueh would consider it a great bonus if you were killed'

Merlin smirked at Arthur's surprised expression 'just don't go doing anything heroic Arthur, that usually gets you into trouble'

After Arthur's retort they fought in grim silence, each of them wanting it to end yet, they were dreading the time when Arthur and Lancelot would have to leave. Neither Arthur nor Lancelot wanted to leave, though they knew that when the adrenalin left their bodies they would probably both collapse. They had only been fighting for another fifteen minuets when suddenly the surge of zombies vanished exposing the numerous carcasses that littered the ground.

Arthur slowed and stopped 'where is the other army?' he half expected them to appear right in front of him.

Helena, who was calmly wiping her sword on the ground pointed with her free arm. The companions turned; situated about ten metres away, standing completely still watching them, was Nimueh's inner army. Lancelot shuddered slightly. There was something about the way they were standing there just watching them, the way he could see that each and every one of them was a corpse that freaked Lancelot out. 'Will they attack us straight away or do we have time to say -' Lancelot's voice caught as he was saying the word 'goodbye'.

Helena shook her head 'Nimueh likes to see people in grief or pain; she will want to watch us say good-bye. I think we should take that opportunity'. Her voice quavered slightly as she spoke.

As she said that it suddenly hit them all that this was it they where saying goodbye for what could very well be the last time. Arthur walked over to Morgana and hugged her tightly, Morgana hugging him back. When Arthur squeezed her so tightly that she began to find it hard to breath Morgana drew back and said 'Arthur don't worry, I have always been a better sword fighter than you and I am pretty good at magic'

This age old banter did not make Arthur smile, instead he said 'just be careful Morgana, please. I don't want to lose you again'.

Morgana nodded, not trusting herself to speak and hugged him tightly before he drew away. Arthur turned to Merlin and grasped hands with him. 'Take care of yourself Merlin'.

Merlin tried to smirk but it just came out as a rather comical grimace 'oh Arthur you actually sound like you care'

Arthur grinned 'of course I don't, it's just that if you die I will be forced to find another man servant' his smile faltered and he suddenly gave Merlin an awkward half pat on the back half hug and drew away quickly 'in all seriousness though do be careful' he said gruffly

Merlin nodded a rather surprised expression on his face 'I will. Take care of Gwen'

Arthur nodded then moved on to Morgause, who had just finished hugging Helena. They looked at each other for what seemed like a full minute before Arthur moved forward and hugged her tightly. They remained like that for a moment before Morgause drew away slightly to look up into his blue eyes 'you've changed Arthur'. Over her shoulder Arthur watched the unmoving zombies and felt angered that every eye was a portal to Nimueh's mind; that she was able to watch this moment between them all. Above the family dark, sinister clouds rumbled and flashes of lightning among the top most of them was just visible. The sky seemed to reflet the feeling of oncoming terror in their hearts.

Arthur smiled 'I think I'm beginning to do what the prophecy said I would'

In all truth he felt like he had known Morgause all his life, in fact he had this memory from when he was younger that Helena had helped him to find.

He was nestled comfortably in someone's gentle, yet secure arms. Looking up he could see the soft gentle face of his mother looking down at him smiling. Then another face appeared beside Igraine. That very young Morgause had resembled her older self; a small curious face dominated by the same big soft brown eyes framed by the same golden locks. Arthur had noticed, when he had first seen this memory that those eyes had not held the burden of responsibility and the look of someone who had had to fend for themselves at a young age. They had an innocent curious look in them. Arthur heard his mother ask Morgause if she wanted to hold him and then he was nestled in smaller, gentle, slightly less secure arms. Morgause's young, innocent face looked down at him, her long golden locks tickling his face. He reached up a chubby fist and gripped Morgause's pinkie tightly and Morgause laughed and Arthur heard Igraine say 'he likes you'.

Helena had later told him that that was only about a day or two before Igraine had fallen ill. Only about a week before Morgause would never be that innocent, happy child again.

Now as he smiled at a much older, much less innocent Morgause he felt sad that they had found each other after all that time only to be parted again. 'You know its odd to think that, probably no more than a month ago, we hated each other' said Arthur

Morgause smiled sadly and said 'I cant believe that I wasted all that time hating you. Its cruel that you could lose everyone who cares about you in this one fight'

Arthur suddenly realised that despite her outward appearance Morgause was scared. Hugging her close he said 'I believe that you can win this fight Morgause, don't forget that' withdrawing from her he smiled down at her then turned away.

Morgause suddenly found herself face to face with Lancelot. Unconsciously they had left their goodbyes to last, dreading the moment when they would have to say farewell. Lancelot stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her rested his chin on her head, which she lowered to his shoulder. Neither of them said anything, for what could you say to the person you loved with all your heart when you might never see them again? After what seemed like only a few seconds but what was in fact a few minutes Morgause lifted her head and kissed Lancelot passionately. When they drew apart they rested their foreheads together, neither of them aware of the tears silently coursing down their cheeks and Lancelot whispered 'I love you' his voice cracked and he wished with all his heart that Nimueh had left them alone, that she had left everyone alone.

Morgause looked up into his eyes and whispered back 'I love you too, I always will'. After a minute or two they drew away from each other, Lancelot placed a hand on her smooth cheek, wiping away some of her tears then turned away. Walking away from her, down to where Arthur and his surviving knights where waiting, was the hardest thing Lancelot had ever done in his entire life. He literately had to force himself to place one foot in front of the other until he reached the horses tied near by. Swinging himself up and turning the horse to face the direction of Camelot Lancelot didn't look back, knowing that if he did he wouldn't be able to go; he wouldn't be able to leave her.

Morgause turned away from the sight of Lancelot riding away and stood facing Nimueh's army. Morgana moved to stand beside her and linked hands with her. Morgana had only just realised just how hard this was for Morgause. At least Morgana was with Merlin and didn't have to face him leaving. Morgause had always been stronger than Morgana, and Morgana didn't blame Morgause for crying silently.

There was a silence as they all waited, Merlin next to Morgana, Morgana next to Morgause and Morgause next to Helena. They where waiting, they realised for the zombies to move and when they finally did taking slow steps forward in a odd shuffling walk Morgause suddenly felt a hate of the kind she had never felt before. She hated Nimueh, she hated Mordred and she hated these zombies. She hated them all because of what they where putting her and her family though, for the fact that though they had all just found each other they might never see each other again. So as they moved forward to meet the oncoming surge she realised she wanted it to begin, she wanted this fight to end.

Merlin threw a transparent shield in front of Morgana in time to deflect the fireball sent from one of the zombies in the crowd. As Merlin ran towards her the fireball bounced back into the crowd killing the very zombie that cast it. When he reached her he grabbed her shoulders and made the shield wrap around them, locking them in a transparent bubble. 'Morgana!' he shook her.

Morgana looked up at him, tears pouring down her face 'sorry, I didn't see it coming' she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand causing her face to become streaked with mud.

Merlin swallowed his own tears and wrapped his arms around her, trying to hold her together 'Morgana, its not your fault that Helena has gone…none of us could have done anything'

Morgana pushed him away roughly and shook her head 'you don't understand. Do you remember when I had that dream and I saw us fighting? Helena wasn't there! I should have warned her or something' she sounded slightly hysterical.

Merlin shook his head and said firmly yet desperately 'you can't blame your self for what happened Morgana, it's not your fault'

At this point Morgause ducked behind the shield and shouted 'guys a bit of help would be appreciated!' as she spoke she crouched and slammed her palm into the ground her eyes glowing gold. At first nothing happened until the ground around a dozen zombies began to bubble and shift and suddenly burst upwards, it curled around the zombies legs moving quickly to cover their torsos, chest and neck until finally there where twelve rock statues standing in different positions.

Merlin and Morgana moved quickly to join her and Merlin shouted 'how many times can you do that?' Merlin threw a fireball towards a group of on coming zombies, several seconds before it reached them his eyes glowed golden and the fireball expanded and exploded setting about a dozen zombies alight, they then crumbled to dust.

'Not many!' shouted Morgause spinning to touch a zombie on its chest with her finger spread wide. The zombie exploded into dust.

Merlin shouted a spell and what looked like tree roots shot out of the ground entwining themselves around several zombies and dragging them back into the ground. Morgana trust her hand in front of her, sending an invisible force towards the zombies sending them crashing backwards into each other 'none of our spells are as affective as they should be! We need to rest!' shouted Morgana. Although they where killing several zombies at a time they where all tiring fast; none of them had ever fought a magical battle before, none of them had even fought with magic for this long. They where exhausted and Nimueh was not.

Merlin and Morgause shouted an incantation and an invisible shield expanded from their hands and joined in mid air forming a bubble around them. 'This wont hold them for long' said Merlin 'Nimueh will get though'

Morgana nodded and said 'do you remember that dream I had where Mordred and Nimueh where talking about this power we have?'

Morgause and Merlin nodded 'what ever you're going to say hurry' said Morgause urgently watching as cracks appeared in the shield.

Morgana said quickly 'well they said that if even one of us had accessed our power this army wouldn't stand a chance!'

'Yeah that's great except that we don't know how to access that power!' said Merlin

Morgana took a deep breath and said 'what if the trigger is-'

The shield cracked, and several things happened at once. A second after the shield was destroyed Merlin felt something hit him hard in the chest and a sickening pain expanded though his chest and he blacked out. Morgause, who had been standing closest to where the shield split flew backwards though the air, hitting her head hard on a bolder that one of the zombie's had thrown. As the world exploded into bright lights and stars before her eyes the last thing Morgause heard before everything went dark was Morgana screaming.

so do you like?

i tried as hard as possible to make the farewell heart breaking but i dont know if it worked.

by the way did you all catch on to what happened to Helena? the three magicians think that she is dead

this cliff hanger wont last long because i will update soon!

please review and any ideas or suggestions are welcomed :)

for those of you who still want to know exactly what happened to Helena you will find out in the next chapter :)