Spoilers: The Quest Part 2
Chapter 10 – Reflection
It was dark. Very dark. The moonlight just barely illuminated the outline of the Stargate against a sky glittering slightly with stars. The orange glow of smoldering fire was obscured by the tree line, but the air was still tinged with the smell of smoke.
The villagers had returned to the their ruined homes just before dusk. There was very little left for them. Their homes had been destroyed, their streets strewn with ash; many of their friends and neighbors had been killed when the invaders burned the village. They would have to rebuild their lives and their world almost from the ground up.
Morgan La Fay sighed, closing her eyes against the pain. They were innocents caught in the middle of a war that they could not understand. It had begun as a war that took place on another plane of existence. And it was a war that could have been prevented if the Ancients had dared to interfere.
Morgan sat on the ground, leaning against the dialing device and stared up at the Stargate. That helplessness feeling had settled in around her once again, leaving her cold and closed off from the rest of the galaxy.
The former sorceress wondered how you measured the sum of a person's life. In her case, she had lived many lifetimes, but in the end, what did all of those millennia add up to? If everyone had a purpose for their life, and to be honest, she wasn't sure if they did, than what was her purpose? And more importantly, had she fulfilled it before she was stranded on this lonely little planet?
She wondered if she would be recorded in the annals of the Ascended as a troublemaker – a renegade who had finally been dealt with, left to live out her life in well-deserved exile and shame.
And then, Morgan wondered what Merlin would think.
Morgan sighed as she thought over all the events that had led her to this point. She had done what she could. Maybe it wasn't enough, maybe the Ori would still win, maybe no one would ever know about what she had done…but that was not the point. She had done her best, done what she thought was right. No one could ask for any more than that.
Morgan leaned back on the grass and looked up at the stars above her. Whether or not her efforts made a difference, it was the attempt that mattered. She had done her part, and now it was time to let others take over her quest. Merlin would do his part, Daniel would do his, and the rest would be up to those that came afterward. The results were out of her hands and it was time to release that burden. She had tried to protect Merlin's ideals and continue his legacy, but now it was someone else's turn.
The smoke and clouds were beginning to clear and Morgan watched more stars join their companions in the night sky, feeling more at peace than she could remember feeling in a very long time.
Merlin looked at the man standing before him. No, it was not Galahad. That had been wishful thinking. He had hoped to awake to the face of a friend and instead he was surrounded by strangers who told him that he had slept for over a thousand years. No, this man was not Galahad, didn't even look like Galahad really, but the similarities were there, beneath the surface. Daniel Jackson, as the man had introduced himself, had the same single-minded focus, the same purity of heart and truth of spirit as the now dead Sir Galahad.
Now his companion, on the other hand, was another story. The physical resemblance to Percival was uncanny. He wondered briefly if there could be some ancestral link between the two, but the memory of Doctor Jackson's insistent words brought him back to the matter at hand.
"Myrddin, we need you to remember. About the Sangreal. About Morgan and how you got here."
And as Daniel explained everything that had changed in the last thousand years, Merlin thought briefly about Morgan.
He had often cursed Morgan for playing along with the meaningless rules of the Others. It was simply beyond him how someone of her intelligence could so blindly follow a clearly faulty law code. On the other hand, for all of those years when she had been doing the council's bidding, Merlin had greatly enjoyed the game of cat and mouse that they played. Morgan had always been smart and capable, and even if she was not quite a worthy adversary, their game provided him with some amusement.
He had been nothing less than shocked when she had appeared to him, saying that she had come to agree with his position and that she wanted to help. Merlin chuckled at the recollection. Arthur had not understood why Merlin would suddenly ally himself with the troublesome sorceress. Of course, that was around the same time that Merlin and Morgan and begun dropping clues about the Sangreal, pulling together old myths in order to create a legend of their own. They had hoped that Arthur's knights, or perhaps the descendants of those nobleman, would be able to find the Sangreal and protect it.
Merlin had never thought that their quest would take over a thousand years.
He looked at the man before him. Doctor Daniel Jackson. He was a human scholar who had studied the legends that Merlin himself had left behind. But he was also a fellow warrior against the Ori, and a former ascended who was willing to do what he believed in no matter what the consequences. Merlin couldn't think of anyone more qualified to finish what he had started. They were kindred spirits in some ways, despite their many differences. He almost chuckled as he tried to imagine this stubborn man abiding by the rules of the Others. It was no wonder they had sent him back.
And then Merlin wondered about Morgan. She had always been very by-the-book, so to speak. It wasn't that she was narrow-minded, far from it, but she believed in the necessity of order and self-discipline. While Merlin had been a leader among his people, Morgan had been a teacher. She was not naturally inclined to positions of authority. She had been brilliant in her own way, but she did not take it upon herself to lead others or take the initiative in matters of great importance. She was characteristically cautious and reserved, never prone to taking great risks.
But this time, Morgan had taken the initiative. In spite of her belief in order and discipline, and the firm moral boundaries that she believed in, Morgan had decided to act on her own, against all of the Others, even though she knew full well there would be no one to support her decision.
Merlin smiled. It was completely unlike her and wonderfully impulsive. Perhaps, Merlin thought, he had rubbed off on her over the years. Or perhaps, she had just been waiting for the right time to make her move. Either way, it was time for him to make use of this one brief opportunity that she had granted him.
Daniel was trying not to think of how bizarre his situation seemed. He was literally living a legend, something that had been written down and recorded in storybooks long before he was even born. If the situation wasn't so dire, he thought that all of this would be incredibly fascinating. Daniel Jackson from the planet Earth had uncovered an ancient wizard trapped and frozen in a cave many years ago by a mysterious sorceress. Just when he thought that his life couldn't get any stranger…and he had a feeling that he hadn't seen the end of it just yet.
It was mind-boggling really. Merlin had been fighting the Ori for several lifetimes. The Sangreal was his life's work. And Morgan had made it her goal to protect Merlin so that he could finish that work. Compared with what they had accomplished, Daniel knew that his life was little more than a tiny blip on the radar of a much bigger conflict. It was staggering to realize that what they did here today would be the culmination of thousands of years filled with strife and sacrifice.
Daniel looked over to the Ancient repository, wondering what Merlin had done to the device that last time.
He had hoped this would work. He had hoped that somehow Merlin would have a plan to make everything right. Even now, he fervently hoped that they would be able to finish the Sangreal and use it against the Ori. Because he knew that time was running out and this was the only lead they had. All of their attempts so far had led to utter failure and Daniel couldn't help but remember what Mitchell had said months ago.
"I'm not saying we should give up. I'll fight to my dying breath. I just think we need a new plan."
And Daniel couldn't help but agree. This was the best plan they had. The only plan. But he wondered how many people would die to make it happen. Morgan had already sacrificed her freedom to give them this chance, and there had been something in Merlin's eyes, in the weary sound of his voice that Daniel recognized. He wondered if it was the same thing that Jonas had seen in his eyes before he jumped through that glass window on Kelowna.
Merlin had known he wouldn't survive if he continued to use that device and he had literally spent his dying breath to give them a chance to fight the Ori. He had simply run out of time. But where did that leave them? Daniel didn't even know if this would work, but Morgan and Merlin had believed that the attempt was worth the sacrifice.
And Daniel recalled Merlin's last words as well. "Good luck, Doctor Jackson." That was what he had said. For some reason that warmed Daniel's heart. It made him feel as if he had a part in this legend and that Merlin's legacy would somehow continue. The historian in him couldn't help but feel proud to be included in that legacy.
Daniel turned to Vala and tried to talk his way through the situation, explaining their past experiences with the repository device and theorizing on what Merlin had done.
Daniel tried to take a deep breath as he figured out what he had to do. He didn't know whether it would work, he didn't know what would happen next, but he did know that he had to try. He had to have faith that this was part of a bigger plan. He remembered that step of faith through the wall of fire and prepared to take another leap.
He began to move towards Merlin, distracting Vala for just long enough that he could turn and grab hold of the device, activating it quickly. He knew that Vala would be angry. So would the rest of the team. They probably wouldn't understand why he had taken this risk. But somehow, he knew it would work out. It had to happen this way. Merlin was right. There was one last task and Daniel had to help complete it. Both Morgan and Merlin had worked for too long to have their efforts wasted.
Daniel shuddered slightly as the device activated. Then he focused on the task at hand.
Author's Note: For some time now, I've planned on ending the story at this point. Morgan's work is done and in a way, everything has come full circle. It seemed like a fitting place to end.
However, Morgan (in her rather pushy way) insisted on an epilogue. Which is also fitting, considering that nothing about this story has gone the way I originally intended.