Dear Readers, it seems the only two things I ever write here are that I have too much free time or not enough, but today, neither is the case. I have been internally debating how to end this story because I don't want to be unfair to you by killing off a character, but that's the direction that feels most natural, so I don't know! Anyway, it doesn't impact this chapter, so enjoy, and let me know what you think about character death.

They got back on Aithusa and started for the Lake of Avalon. Morgana sat in silence, all the possible ways that this could end running through her mind. The universe demanded balance, and dark magic upset that balance. So it required a price. A way to stabilize the universe. The good old life for a life.

But they'd already made the universe unstable. They were never meant to fall in love. So maybe the universe could handle a little more instability. It was pretty strong, pretty good at rewriting itself. Maybe just one more time. But Morgana knew she was lying to herself. Someone was going to die to get Arthur and Gwen back.

Merlin, oblivious to this worrisome pondering, was enjoying the view from the sky. It was all so good, so right. He and Morgana flying through Camelot; from above it almost looked the same as it had before, like none of the bad stuff had ever happened. And now she loved him and he her. But something else was gnawing at his mind.

"You said consequences, Morgana," he remembered. "What consequences?"

She shook her head.

"Hopefully none," she said, smiling weakly. "I'm working on it."

But the gnawing feeling would not go away.

"Worst case scenario?"

Morgana sighed and clutched his hand in strength for the retelling of her tale. She absorbed as much love from him as she could before starting. When she was done, she feared he might not see her the same way.

"Back in Camelot, I was incredibly powerful and completely without restraint. I had grown arrogant, come to believe that I could do what I pleased without any consequences. But I was also scared. Prophecies foretold of my imminent downfall, and I was helpless to stop them.

"So I summoned all my power. All my dark power. And I created the Neexiamus stone, literally translating to the 'let us not die' stone. I didn't think there would be anyt, so I hid it away until I would need it again, shielding it from even my own memory in order to keep it safe. It was designed to be remembered again when I was ready to live again.

"By the time I remembered its existence, I was no longer the person who had created the stone. I wasn't willing to give up what I once had been.

"But the universe seeks balance. It demands equilibrium. My life in return for someone else's."

Merlin interrupted. "Whose?"

"Stephanie Reilly. 36 years old. She had no family or friends, no job, no home. She was nobody." Her voice carried regret and sought forgiveness; she didn't truck believe her words.

"Everybody is somebody," he said numbly, desperately trying to adjust his vision of Morgana to this new side he'd been shown.

"I know. I am selfish. I put my life before someone else's, someone innocent. They didn't deserve it, didn't deserve to die just so that I could live again. That's why, if worst comes to worst, I will gladly give up my life for Arthur's and Gwen's. Because I never deserved to live in the first place."

Both were silent, taking in the new information, the new dynamic between them. Finally Merlin's gentle whisper permeated the silence.

"I'm glad you did it. I shouldn't be because you killed someone and that's something the bad Morgana would do, but I'm happy. I can't imagine life without you in it. I need you here. With me and Arthur and Gwen. So we're just going to have to rewrite the stars now more time."

~oOo~

They touched down so softly that Merlin might not have noticed had Morgana not stirred him from his sleep at the landing.

He'd been dreaming nicely.

He'd seen Gwen's smiling face as he was pelted with fruit. So much kindness from someone whom he barely knew. And he saw Arthur's irritation as he joked about having to add another hole to the belt. He remembered talking to Lancelot and Gawain and Percival, and he remembered saving Mordred even though Kilgarrah had warned him otherwise.

And thinking back, he didn't regret any of it. He done what he thought right at the time in order to save a life and protect magic. And he would do it again, even knowing what he knew now.

Time had passed for him, always alone, but he didn't have to be all by himself now. He had Morgana, and now these dreams of the past seemed less like a curse and more like fond memories. And maybe it could be like that again. Maybe they could all have their happy endings.

"We're here," Morgana whispered. "At Avalon. It's time."

As usual, leave a review. They really make my day. And if this is your first time reading, make sure to hit that follow button. I am foreseeing two to three more chapters depending on how I end it, so like I said earlier, let me know what you think I should do.