A/N: I hope you like this chapter . . . I came to the realization that Morgana's been OOC this whole time, so I'm trying to remedy that a little in this chapter. Anyways . . . I might be updating more frequently now . . . I'm off to college in a month, and I kinda WANT to be done with this story by then . . . but this plot doesn't want a quick ending so . . . I'm getting as much done as I can.
This chapter is dedicated to reviewer Mojito737, Thank you SO much for reviewing!
Merlin POV
The potion worked even faster than he had expected, and the last thing Merlin felt before darkness took him was Arthur catching him, warm and steady. An anchor. Then, it was suddenly bright all around him. And hot. Very, very, hot.
Smoke. Smoke and heat and fire. Merlin felt panic well up inside him and his lungs seized up, rebelling against the smoke accidently inhaled. He pushed himself up, eyes flickering, looking for daylight, moonlight, anything to move towards that wasn't flame and smoke. But there was nothing, and he just had to get out, out, OUT! He pulled up his neckerchief to cover his mouth and nose, trying not to breathe in any more smoke, stumbling over shapes concealed in the smoke and flickering shadows. Something heavy fell to the floor directly behind him, and Merlin cried out in surprise and fear as he was plunged downward and shrouded in sparks and then tongues of flame were licking at his skin, and it hurt worse than he thought it would, even in his worst nightmares. He yelled again as his skin blistered, heat searing itself across his arms and legs where he had fallen.
And then rain. Sweet, glorious rain pouring down, even as Merlin felt his magic retreating back into himself. It had been a long time since his magic had acted on its own like that, but he couldn't be more grateful for it as he lay there, weak and in pain and allowed himself a moment of rest before examining his injuries.
The fire had extinguished in geysers of steam, the heat of which made an effort at drying Merlin, who had been soaked to the skin by the downpour, which was just now letting up. His burned-tight skin protested as he heaved himself over so that he was laying on his back, rather than his stomach. The ceiling still held glowing embers, which faded in the drizzle. Merlin's breath was thin with pain, he could feel his mouth gaping with the phantom need for air.
"Merlin!" And there was Morgana, hair wild, dress damp, feet shoeless, and hands a shiny red. Burned. And still one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen.
"Hi."
She laughed, relief coloring her features. "You're the first person I've seen since I woke up in the well! How did you get here?"
"This is the Dreamworld, Gaius made a potion so that I could find you," Merlin said, wincing as he put too much weight on painful burns.
"You're hurt!" Morgana said, hovering uncertainly with her hands held out, but her hands looked burned worse than Merlin's arms and legs.
"So are you," he said hoarsely.
"I hardly feel it at all," Morgana admitted. "I cast a spell for healing, but it didn't do much, so I cast a spell to block out the pain."
"Not always a good idea, but in this situation, probably for the best," Merlin conceded. He knew the pain-dampening spell, but had rarely had reason to use it. It was really only ever to be used when there was no way to treat your injuries while you were in life-or-death situations. Which this could be classified as. Merlin gathered his magic, and sent it through his body with a silent command. Once he could stand again, he did so, closing his eyes against the retaliatory dizziness. "We have to get out of here," he said. "If we die here, we're dead in the waking world as well."
"And if we're injured here?"
"The more danger we are in, the worse our fever gets there, but the injuries will not show up in the waking world until we're conscious." The drizzle had given way to a light mist, which settled on Merlin's skin, cooling it. "Do you know if there's an exit to the outside?" Morgana shook her head.
"This world does not conform to the laws of nature. I started at the bottom of a well and the last thing I remember is being in a field after the trees disappeared, surrounded by wind fit to pull apart a building sounder than this." That explained her damp and windblown appearance then. "And then I'm in the middle of a raging fire that's put out in a few moments by the rain. I'm assuming that was you."
Merlin nodded. "Well," he said, looking around at the fragile walls around them. "If we walk in one direction, we're bound to come across an opening to the outside eventually."
"Or simply end up somewhere else entirely," Morgana muttered.
"Let's try to think positively," Merlin said, walking out of the door. The floor beneath his feet creaked ominously, and Merlin wondered whether there was another floor below them. The hallway was wide, wide enough that he was relatively sure that this was a large structure. It would take a while to get to the outside, particularly if they were a few floors up. Okay, so, positive thinking wasn't his forte. That was to be expected, really.
"You said we should leave the Dreamworld," Morgana said from where she was still standing. "How do we accomplish that, exactly?"
"My magic is anchored to the waking world. If the Dreamworld weakens at all, I can pull us back."
"Weakens?"
"It . . . well, it's stronger because I actually am tired, but once my body in the waking world has some energy, I should be able to pull us back."
"I'm not liking all of those 'should bes' and 'maybes'" Morgana cut him off.
"They're all I can-" Merlin started, but Morgana kept talking over him.
"You should be more confident in your own abilities. You are so very powerful, Merlin, you can do more than you know."
"You spent time with the Druids, Morgana," Merlin said, turning to continue through the hallway. "I know they make me out to be this, all-knowing, all-powerful savior, but I'm only human."
"Apparently you're immortal," Morgana disagreed as she caught up to him, looking askance at the wall as it creaked ominously.
"That aside," Merlin said, turning down another corridor- one not blocked by burned and blackened supports, "I'm not actually any more knowledgeable than any other man who spent a few years living with a physician."
"But you are more powerful."
"Knowledge is power," Merlin said, looking resolutely ahead. "If I have all of the power inside of me that those prophecies allude to, it's all useless if I don't know how to use it."
They are quiet for a time. "I'm a priestess of the Old Religion," Morgana says slowly. "That may have happened while I was under a spell, but I will not relinquish it. Perhaps I do not deserve it and the confidence that it can inspire inside of me, but it is also a part of who I am now." They reach a window, but it much too far above the ground outside to think about jumping. Morgana leans against the glass, looking down. "I've been trying to separate who I was before Morgause and who I was while I worked with her. But I can't live like that."
"Don't try to be anyone," Merlin says, watching her intently. "Just be who you want to be." Morgana smiled at him, walking away from the window to twine her fingers with his.
"Thank you, Merlin," she said, and that was when the window exploded.
A/N: Please review! I get a lot more into a story if I know that the readers are into it as well, and the muse for this one is . . . kinda asleep? As in . . . has been asleep basically since the beginning? The reviews help me kinda poke it into doing something. So thank you to any reviewers!
