How amazing was that episode (Ep 3 for people reading at a later date!)?! I can't get over it's incredible-ness! :D It was just... fantastic! I'm removing all candles from my bedroom tonight!!
Thank you to Laura Elizabeth for her ever amazing comments, and thank you to BFSF for his/her four comments! :P I'd also like to thank everyone who's added me/the story to their favourites and/or alerted me/the story! :D
Let the Memory Live Again- Chapter Thirteen
Uther looked down through the bars of the cell at his ward, "How could I do this to you?"
The child was curled up in a sorry ball, quivering through sickness and through cold under a threadbare rug. Her hollow eyes stared through him, unable to register his presence. Weak tears rolled down her drained face, dripping down her neck and bony chest. Her breathing was laboured and uncomfortable and her chest made a rattling sound as it slowly rose up and down. Never had Uther seen such agony in one person.
"She seems to have deteriorated over the last hour or so." Gaius told the king worriedly.
Uther opened the cell and slowly walked towards his adopted daughter, "She's so thin," he bent down beside her, "I'm afraid that she'd break should I touch her."
"You can see her ribs." Merlin hadn't seen Morgana over the last three months and, like most, he was oblivious to the extent of Morgana's sickness.
"Just get her out of here." Arthur had such a look of fear upon his face, fear for Morgana's life.
Uther slowly lifted her frail body, "She's so light. She shouldn't be this light."
"Feeling guilty Father?" Arthur glared at the King. He got no response.
Morgana started to stir; the tiniest flicker of life ran through her eyes, "Mama…Papa…?"
"Hush my child," Uther whispered, "You're safe now."
"It's very likely that she'll have been suffering from delusions over the past few weeks."
"Delusions of a happier time." Arthur considered how much better off Morgana would be if her parents had lived to bring her up themselves.
"She will be happy again Arthur, one day." Uther told his son.
Arthur sighed, "When she's in heaven with her parents? Father, whether she's happy or not, do you think that, should she make it through this sickness, she will ever love you again?"
*****
Uther carried his ward through the castle. Everywhere they went, people stopped and stared at the king carrying the almost unrecognisable Lady Morgana, the poor girl who had been sentenced to death by her tyrannous step-father just three months ago, the poor child who looked like she was about to die without Uther's help.
Never before had a girl looked so sick than the broken Lady Morgana on what was the anniversary of her father's death.
*****
By morning Morgana's condition had worsened and was closer to death than ever before.
"Arthur, you need to get some sleep." Gwen sat beside the prince, "I'll stay here with Morgana, I promise I won't leave her side."
Arthur shook his head, not taking his eyes off Morgana for a second, "I won't leave her."
"You'll be no use to Morgana if you collapse from exhaustion." Gwen told him, concerned.
Arthur looked up at Gwen, "What use am I anyway? What if she never wakes up Gwen?"
She struggled to look into his eyes, "Don't say that Arthur; we have to stay positive."
"I can't lose her Gwen," his eyes welled up with tears, "Not now. Not ever."
"I know," Gwen couldn't remember ever seeing the prince cry before, "She'll get through this."
"But-" he suddenly burst into floods of tears and didn't even attempt to hide them. He was beyond caring what other people thought.
Gwen put her arm around him, "And if she doesn't get through this, we will. Someday."
"I love her." He whispered through the tears.
Gwen patted his arm in comfort, "I know."
Everyone loved Morgana; Gwen as a sister, Uther as a father, Gaius as a carer and Merlin as a friend, "She can't die without knowing how I feel."
"She's a fighter Arthur, that's how she's made it this far."
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