Sorry sorry sorry sorry…. Quickly, a recap of everything since it's been so long…
Danielle is still missing
We don't know who is behind the suicides
Creep girl singing nursery rhymes
Merlin had no idea why his happiness had evaporated as soon as he knew that there would be no more deaths. He should be happy- grateful. But, for some reason that was beyond his logic… he wasn't. All he could feel was a new string of nervousness and unwanted fear.
Something didn't feel right. Maybe it was because people were too happy. They were more cheerful than ever, now everything was going back to what they called normal, and the town begun to flourish once more. It didn't seem right.
And Merlin knew from experience things never finished that suddenly, or that easily. The whole thing had stopped too suddenly; too weirdly. It just didn't feel right- like his bones were screaming protests about the whole thing.
He asked Gaius about it one morning, but he was told with an amused tone that he should just accept things as they were. Merlin considered asking Arthur, but he knew the prince would not understand. After all, Arthur would be used to problems mysteriously solving themselves, with Merlin around.
He sat in his room late one evening, reading his magic book by moonlight. The moonlight that evening reminded him particularly of Freya. He felt slightly depressed, making himself frown. That wasn't good, was it?
His eyes widened at the page, the familiar fear and nausea leaving a sour taste on the tip of his tongue as he sat up abruptly, snapping the book shut. The sound echoed in his small room, swirls of dust rising slightly into the air. He stumbled off the bed.
Wrapping his neckerchief loosely round his neck, he felt a couple of beads of sweat form on his forehead, the familiar signs of depression and wanting to kill himself build up in his chest.
Freya, Freya, Freya, Freya… was all that seemed to vibrate in his skull, creating a dizzy and tense silence that stayed with him as he fell into the main chambers. Gaius didn't look up from his work. "Where do you think you're going?" Merlin could faintly imagine his raised eyebrow.
"For some fresh air… I won't be long." Gaius nodded to the cauldron, and Merlin hurried out of their chambers and into the corridors. The temperature dropped dramatically, letting Merlin lean against the wall and letting his breath create patterns.
He needed to go for a walk. He followed the corridor along, trying to keep his breathing pattern straight. Somehow, no guards passed any corridors he trekked down, until he reached the top of the castle- above the battlements.
An open sky greeted him. The stars sparkled in the clear night, and he grinned slightly to himself. He walked silently to the edge, looking down. He wasn't normally afraid of heights, but looking down made him feel slightly dizzy. He imagined falling, falling, falling…
"It's quite a fall, isn't it?" Merlin started at Arthur's voice, jumping about a foot in the air.
"Yeah."
Arthur's footsteps back to beside him, and they both looked out over the edge.
.~*~.
She finally gasped for air, spluttering on the forest floor as she crawled up onto her hands and knees in the moonlight. Danielle collapsed back onto the floor like a doll, closing her eyes, taking deep breathes of the forest air.
Silence wrapped around her, the whistling of trees not seeming to count. The smell of fresh air filled the space, the hard and sharp floor digging into her back beneath her.
The night was oddly clear- the light of the moon only enhancing the shadows of twisted trees. Danielle's heart pumped too loudly in her ears, and she took deeper breaths, trying to steady her breathing.
She whimpered, her body crumpling together at another wave of pain. Biting her lip to stop herself from screaming out, something invisible continued to stab into her stomach, blood splattering around her as the world disappeared.
.~*~.
"This is where…" Arthur frowned. "This is where it happened."
Merlin wasn't quite sure what to say. "So she… she fell?"
"Yes." Arthur's hair ruffled in the night air, his expression unreadable as he looked down onto the battlements. "But she can't have been the only one. Sometimes I think about the other people and guards who fell."
Merlin had never thought about the lives that had been lost where he was standing- but when he thought about it, many soldiers must have died in battle within the castle. "True. How old was she?"
"Amy," Arthur seemed to have forced himself to say the name, "was six. One week until her birthday."
As if this was a trigger, Arthur seemed to be spilling out random memories- some funny, some bitter, some sad- and as Merlin heard more and more about Amy, something clicked inside his brain and everything made sense… that was who was behind everything…
Wasn't pleased with this chapter. Especially the end.
Sorry this is so late! Thanks to Horsey. Fan993 for reminding me! I had such a hectic couple of weeks… but we're getting to the end of the story (finally!) and there will be regular updates from now on!
Please leave your theories in a review! I think now it's pretty obvious what's happening now.
Sorry the ending was a bit rushed, but I will go back at some point and edit and change some of it.
Thanks so much to all the reviews, alerts and favs! I couldn't do this without your support. Thanks! And please review!