A/N: Hello :) I bring you another chapter, and this one is rather dialogue heavy yet again. These chapters are giving me a bit of trouble, though that's mostly my fault. The revealing of the plot is unraveling a lot more differently than I had originally intended...but that's probably because I hadn't actually had a plan for it. I knew what needed to be discussed, but I had never actually decided on the "how" portion for some of it, so hopefully what I'm doing turns out okay :) There's lots of Merlin's POV in this chapter since a lot of the plot gets revealed to him first (that's what happens when you're the main character :)

Title: Beyond the Vale
Author: BeyondTheStorm
Rating: T for violence and some bloodshed and maybe some language. Better safe than sorry, ne?
Characters/pairings: Only friendship here, though you can read it however you want :) Lots of Merlin and Arthur as well as Gwaine, Lancelot, and Elyan.
Spoilers: Season 3, including the finale. This is a post S3 fic.
Warnings: Nothing, as far as I know.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin :)

So like I said, lots of dialogue and lots more plot, although I think I probably still created more questions than I answered, but fear not, because all shall be revealed soon. There will probably be one or two more chapters dealing with the backstory stuff, and then from there it's a downward spiral to the ending. We still have to get to the angsty scene from the prologue, after all :)

As always, it's really late at night, and this time around I more or less wrote and proofread this chapter in the last 8 hours, so I imagine there's probably a few mistakes this time. Please point any out that you see and I shall fix them :)

Onward!

CHAPTER 21

Despite the fact that it was near impossible to tell the time of day from within the vale, Merlin was certain that they had been at it for hours by now, and still they hadn't found anything useful. They were surrounded by books of all kinds, and yet every one he picked up was of no use to him. Many of them were books similar to the kinds that Gaius owned, and even though quite a few of them were rather interesting, he didn't have time to sit and read something that wasn't about the vale.

After dividing up and each choosing a section of the room to tackle, the five of them had remained separated and focused on their task, the only sounds amongst them being the turning of pages and the scraping of wood every time one of them got up to find another book. For the most part they didn't talk, and even though it made him wonder from time to time (he trusted Lancelot and Elyan to stay on task, and perhaps Arthur given the situation, but Gwaine was another matter entirely), he wasn't about to break the silence amongst them. He was also far too absorbed in his own search, especially since he knew a bit more about what they were dealing with than the rest of them did.

Unfortunately, he still didn't seem to know enough to be able to find what they were looking for…and a certain wandering spirit wasn't helping him any.

For the last hour or so, Rhoshad had been roving around (he had initially lost sight of him after the knights had arrived), but he wasn't doing anything helpful. There were no comments, no useful hints, no talking of any kind whatsoever. Instead he seemed perfectly content to simply observe, which wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't chosen to stand directly behind the warlock and peer over his shoulder.

Merlin closed yet another book with a resounding thud and fought the urge to let his head hit the table.

"Do you have to keep…hovering like that?" he whispered in a hiss, casting just a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Does it bother you?" Rhoshad asked, sounding genuinely curious, which actually just frustrated the warlock more. He couldn't tell if the man honestly wanted an answer or if he was simply amusing himself. Despite being dead—and probably for more than a hundred years or so—he hadn't lost his sense of humor (or his sarcasm).

"Yes, actually, it does."

"…I can't imagine why."

This time he almost did hit his head against the table, but instead he simply dropped it onto his arms and heaved a sigh.

"Because even though you're right there, I can't openly talk to you without the risk of someone hearing me, and I can't imagine that going over too well."

"You could just explain it to them, you know."

"…I really can't see that going over any better." He wasn't so concerned about the knights—Lancelot would believe him, and Elyan probably would as well, but Gwaine wasn't exactly superstitious. It could honestly go either way with him. No, Arthur was his real concern. He honestly couldn't see the prince believing him. Magic was one thing. Ghosts were another matter entirely, and even though Arthur had believed him about the voices in the vale, he wasn't sure if that same generosity would be extended towards a spirit like Rhoshad.

Arthur already thought he was an idiot. He didn't want to give him any more reasons to think that there was something off about him.

"…You're a bit of a pessimist, aren't you."

With another sigh, Merlin sat up straight once more and was about to offer a retort when Elyan suddenly came around the corner of one of the bookshelves. The warlock immediately snapped his mouth shut and prayed that the knight hadn't been able to hear him. He'd been keeping his voice down, but the room was very quiet. He was going to have to be a bit more careful when addressing Rhoshad from now on.

"Having any luck?" Elyan asked, shifting the small stack of books in his arms.

"Not really."

"I fear we're not having much either. I'm pretty sure Gwaine doesn't know how to focus long enough to actually find anything useful, and I think that some of these books are starting to make Arthur a bit uncomfortable."

"Why?" he asked, forcing down the urge to make a comment about Arthur and reading (he knew the prince well enough to know that he never read anything that he didn't have to. He very rarely showed enough interest in something to actually sit down and research it). It was rather obvious though from the quiet chuckle behind him that Rhoshad knew exactly what he had intended to say.

"A lot of them deal with magic," Elyan told him, keeping his voice down so that he wouldn't be overheard. "I know that Uther had a lot of those kinds of books burned, and judging by the glare he was giving them, I imagine that Arthur would like to do the same."

Merlin couldn't help but wince, feeling just the slightest bit guilty and perhaps a little hurt as well. He had known that some of the books would likely involve magic—he had stumbled upon a few of them himself—but he hadn't really been thinking about it at the time. Even though they weren't in Camelot and therefore its laws didn't apply, that didn't mean that Arthur would be any more tolerant than he usually was when it came to magic. Instead it would probably just make him irritated. Aside from Lancelot, none of them harbored any trust towards magic.

In the end, that was just one more reason why he didn't want to mention Rhoshad to any of them, at least not yet. A great deal of magic was involved, not to mention that the man was a sorcerer himself. Even if the rest of them could see him, there was no guarantee that they would be willing to trust him or even bother to listen to him. Merlin also wasn't in the mood to be yelled at by Arthur about trusting a sorcerer so easily. Those kinds of conversations always hurt, and they probably always would. It just wasn't something he could ever bring himself to get used to, because every time his friend would denounce magic or claim that it was evil, he couldn't help but feel like each and every word was aimed at him (and he would be reminded once more, over and over, about every lie he had told and everything he kept hidden).

He hated it, but there was nothing he could do. Perhaps one day things would be different, but until then he would simply have to play his part.

"…It's all a bit strange though."

Merlin quickly pulled himself out of his thoughts and back into the conversation, giving Elyan a confused glance (he was pretty sure he had missed something, but he wasn't about to let on that he had).

"What is?" he asked.

"These books look like they've been well kept. Some of them even look as good as new, but I'm pretty sure that most of them are hundreds of years old."

"Hundreds? What makes you think that?"

"Well, some of the books I've found had maps drawn in. Most of them were the same, and not one of them was familiar. I didn't recognize any of the kingdoms. Some of the other books as well mentioned creatures and plants that I've never even heard of, much less seen. The only explanation I could come up with was that this archive is hundreds of years old—old enough that no one outside of this castle would have the knowledge that's available here."

That…actually made a lot of sense. They had all known that the castle was old. In fact, it was apparently old enough that not even Gaius had been able to find any mention of it in his vast supply of resources. The kingdom was old enough that it had been removed completely from all known sources, which meant that it was also old enough to have been forgotten. They weren't talking about just one or even two hundred years but hundreds.

Just how old was the vale? How long had all of those souls been trapped like that, unable to move on?

"Far too long," was the answer he got from Rhoshad, and he couldn't help but be startled (he had forgotten the sorcerer was still there). "Long enough to make anyone wish for an end, even if it were an absolute one."

"Merlin, are you alright?" asked Elyan, having taken notice of the way he had tensed upon hearing Rhoshad's voice.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to act like nothing abnormal had happened. "I was just thinking."

The warlock took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh as he glanced at his stack of books. Somewhere in the room was a book that would have some answers, that would give them at least one part of the puzzle. They just had to keep looking.

"The answers have to be here somewhere," he stated confidently as he grabbed another book and flipped it open. "I know they do."

"We'll keep looking. None of us are going to give up that easily."

Elyan offered him an encouraging smile before walking off back to his own section of books, leaving Merlin by himself once more…sort of. He wasn't entirely sure if a ghost counted as company or not.

"…That's a bit rude, don't you think."

"Will you please stop reading my mind?"

"I'm sorry, but it's hard not to. I told you that a connection was made when you entered this room, and because of your magic, it's a great deal stronger than it is with your friends. Even if I tried, I doubt I'd be able to block you out completely."

"Great…"

With one final sigh and more than a little internal grumbling, Merlin threw himself back into his research with Rhoshad once again peering over his shoulder.

"…Well, it seems that some of you are a bit less studious than others."

It had been at least another couple of hours since the last time he had heard anyone's voice other than his own (and even then he had only heard it in his head as he went through book after book), and the broken silence was enough to make him jump before he turned around in his chair to look at Rhoshad. The spirit had a slightly amused smile on his face.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, remembering at the last moment that he was supposed to be keeping his voice down.

"Your friend Gwaine seems to find my archive rather dull. He's been nodding off every now and then for the past hour."

This time Merlin did let his head hit the table, groaning in exasperation and perhaps a bit of frustration as well. They had been looking for hours, and still nothing. The five of them were getting nowhere fast, and they didn't have time to search the entire room. They needed to find answers, and they needed them soon. Perhaps if they could figure out exactly what had happened to the kingdom, they'd be able to figure out how to reach the staff in the courtyard and use it to escape.

Unfortunately, they actually had to find the information first. That wouldn't have bothered him so much if not for the fact that the answer to all their questions was standing right behind him but didn't seem inclined to offer his knowledge, only his commentary.

"Rhoshad…" he began, and he personally no longer cared if his voice came out just a bit whiny, "can't you just tell me which book to read?"

"That would depend on what it is you'd like to know."

"Anything. Something, I don't really care. I just want to know why you can't just tell me what I want to know."

"Sometimes it's better to see things for yourself. That applies to learning as well."

Merlin just sighed and kept his head against the table, giving in to the urge to rest. He was getting tired, and every failed attempt—every dead end—made him feel just a little bit more discouraged each time. There were thousands upon thousands of books, and even if they were choosing each one carefully, it didn't change the fact that there were just too many for only five people to cover. They didn't even know what they were supposed to be looking for.

With his head resting on the table, Merlin was unaware of the sympathetic stare he was being sent. He also didn't notice as Rhoshad vanished for a moment before returning with a single book in his hands. The warlock did however notice as said book was dropped onto the table, shaking it enough to disturb him from his rest. He glanced at it before pulling it closer and taking a look at the title.

"What's this? 'The Royal Family of Haulden…?'" His expression quickly fell into one of confusion. Why this book? What did it have to do with anything? "Rhoshad, what…?"

Merlin turned around to face the sorcerer, but his question died off when he found that no one was there. Rhoshad had vanished, leaving him on his own, and a quick look around didn't give him any clues as to where the man had gone. It seemed he really was by himself this time.

The warlock turned his attention back to the book that had been placed before him, wondering once more what it could possibly have in it that would be important enough to warrant reading it. However, he would take a look. After all, Rhoshad wouldn't have given it to him if there wasn't something in it that he needed to know, so without further ado, he flipped open the cover and began to search.

For the most part he mainly just skimmed the writing and instead focused on the pictures. They were of different people and families, and each little portrait became more and more detailed as he went along. The further he got, the more confused he became, because as far as he could tell, there wasn't a single thing in the book that had anything to do with the vale. He had no idea how any of it could possibly be useful to him, but he stuck with it anyway and kept turning the pages until he reached the last section of the book. In his haste he nearly skipped over a few of the pages, but a single glimpse of the final portrait was more than enough to completely draw him in.

At first he believed that he must have been mistaken, but upon closer inspection he realized that it couldn't possibly be a mere coincidence. When he finally read the small inscription beneath the picture, he was certain that he had finally found an answer.

The portrait in the final section of the book was of three people—a king, a queen, and their daughter. They were the last recorded royal family of the kingdom of Haulden.

The young princess was a delicate girl with long ashen hair, pale skin, and eyes like faded gold. Her name was Eiwyn.

Just like that it clicked.

They were in the kingdom of Haulden.

Merlin quickly set the book aside and got up, heading for the nearest bookshelf. Now that he knew what to look for, it was easy to find books that could potentially prove useful. He went from shelf to shelf and grabbed anything and everything that had to do with the kingdom including documentations and journals. Once he had gathered a decent amount, he dragged them back to his table and dove in, searching for anything that mentioned the kingdom's history or gave more information about its final ruling family.

He was thoroughly engrossed in his third book when he felt a presence slowly edging in behind him. He didn't even need to look to know who it was.

"Having a bit more luck now?" Rhoshad asked even though he obviously knew the answer.

"Yes." He set down his book for a moment and pulled his attention away even though his eyes never left the page. "This kingdom was Haulden, right?"

"That's right."

"And Eiwyn…she was a princess, wasn't she, and the last ruler of the kingdom. I couldn't find another family after hers."

"Yes. You're right on all accounts. Eiwyn was an only child, the last successor to the throne of Haulden, and much like your prince, she was forced into the role of regent at a young age. Her parents fell ill, and with the kingdom in turmoil, there was no one else to turn to and no one better suited for the role. The people trusted her and were willing to place their lives in her hands…quite literally, in fact."

Merlin finally pulled himself away from the book and gave his full attention to Rhoshad. He knew it was a bit risky to get involved in a conversation at the moment, especially since no one had come to check on him in a while (whenever any of them needed to stretch their legs, they would always check in with everyone else to see how things were going, and he was probably due for a visit any time now).

However, he had finally found some answers, and no matter how small they seemed, he wasn't about to let go now that he actually had something to go on. There was no way he would be able to simply ignore what Rhoshad had just told him.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and he hoped with everything he had that he wasn't going to be brushed off with that whole "it's a long story" lark again. He was pretty sure he would end up grabbing and shaking the man if that was his reply (assuming he could grab him. Rhoshad could touch things that were in the room, but he was still technically a ghost).

"I mean exactly what I said. The people of Haulden made the choice to entrust their lives to Eiwyn. They had such faith in her and she such love for them that together they made a choice, regardless of the pain it would bring. I'm a bit surprised that you don't already know this. After all, you're able to hear them."

"Them?"

"The voices. The people of Haulden. Their souls inhabit the vale, and because they are her people, Eiwyn remains here as their caretaker. Their lives are her responsibility, and they have been for hundreds of years."

Hundreds of years…

They had all been trapped in the vale for hundreds of years.

Merlin wasn't sure what to think—he could scarcely wrap his mind around it. He tried to take it all in, to process what he was being told, but the questions were piling up far more rapidly than the answers, and he wasn't sure what to ask about first, because Rhoshad… He was implying that it had all come down to a choice. He was basically saying that the vale was made the way it was for a reason, that all of them had chosen this.

"You…are you telling me that they wanted this?"

Why would anyone choose to spend an eternity trapped between life and death, unable to move on and lost in never-ending grief?

"It was never a matter of want," Rhoshad told him, his voice taking on a sad tone as he cast his eyes to the floor. "Let me ask you something. If you had to make the choice between losing your life and losing your soul, which would you choose?"

It was a simple question, one that didn't bear thinking about. To lose your life was to die, but to lose your soul was to lose your existence, to fade away into nothing. It was a fate far worse than death.

"My life," he said, without hesitation, and Rhoshad nodded in agreement.

"And how far would you be willing to go if those were your only options?"

"As far as I had to."

The sorcerer raised his head, his eyes boring into Merlin's own as if what he was about to say was what everything else was hinged upon.

"…Then why would you expect anyone else to do differently?"

"…I…"

There was nothing he could say, nothing that would be adequate, and when those words fully sank in, he found himself at a complete loss as everything began adding up. The vale, the voices, all the emotions he had been able to feel and the magic permeating the air… He finally understood. He had been wrong before, they all had. They had assumed that the enchantment placed on the vale was a curse of some kind, meant to trap and detain, but that wasn't it at all. Quite the opposite, really.

It was meant to protect.

He had no idea how it worked or what it was truly for, but he knew that his newfound realization was the right one. The people of Haulden had been forced to make a choice: to give up their lives or lose their souls. Something terrible had happened to the kingdom, something he could scarcely imagine, and so they had taken the only road available to them, choosing a life of imprisonment, left to suffer in their loss and grief, because anything was better than being erased, than ceasing to exist (he couldn't fathom it, the thought of fading into nothing, of simply being gone from every level of existence).

All of those people were still trapped, waiting for the right time to come, waiting to be set free after having suffered so much so that they could move on. They had been waiting for hundreds of years, knowing there was a way to break the enchantment but unable to do anything about it. So far no one had been able to remove the staff from the courtyard and use it to save them…but why? Surely someone would have wandered into the vale in all those years with the ability to use it. Rhoshad had told him before that most of the people who came to the vale came for selfish reasons, but he hadn't said that all of them did. Could there have been people at one time or another who could have broken the enchantment, and if so, then why hadn't they? What had stopped them?

In some ways the answer he found was as simple as it was complicated.

Eiwyn. It had to be. There was no one else.

But why?

"…Rhoshad?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

He couldn't think of another way to ask, so he decided to just be blunt.

"What is Eiwyn, exactly?" She wasn't like the voices, the lost souls, but she was also different from Rhoshad.

The answer he got wasn't the one he had expected.

"She's human, just like you."

"…What? But that's…she can't be…" A mere human wasn't capable of half the things she was, and if she were only a human (not a sorceress, not a ghost, because he knew Rhoshad well enough by now to know he would have specified if either one had been the case), then there was no way she could still be alive. It was impossible.

"I know that you all view her as some sort of magical creature or a lost soul," began Rhoshad, "but she is nothing more than a human girl with borrowed magic. It's only because her influence encompasses the entire vale that she seems to be so much more than she is."

"Influence…? Wait, are you saying that she's connected to the vale the same way that you are to this tower?" He could remember something like that being implied during their first conversation about influence, back when he hadn't been able to understand what it was. Now that he knew, he couldn't stop himself from shaking a bit at the sheer thought of what that entailed.

"Yes, though I fear her level of control is far beyond mine. Even back when I was alive, her power was still greater. The way I am now, I lack the strength to even reach her."

"Wait, so…so Eiwyn is still alive?" He needed an answer, because it had been bothering him for a while now, and he just wanted Rhoshad to give him a straight answer so he could stop wondering.

"Yes. It's part of the enchantment."

"So then she could break the spell, right? If she has control over the vale, then she could lift it."

"…Yes."

It was minute, almost imperceptible, but something in Rhoshad changed with that small admission. His eyes dimmed, his body tensed, and the air around him almost seemed to grow cold, filling with an emotion he knew all too well.

Regret.

"Then why hasn't she?"

He didn't answer. The sorcerer merely stared at the wooden floor beneath him, and all the while Merlin could feel the air growing heavier and heavier until he was certain he could see the weight bearing down on those shoulders. There was sorrow and guilt, loss and anxiety, but more than anything else was that sense of regret.

There was something he was still missing, something important.

"Rhoshad?"

"…I'm sorry. It's complicated."

When he raised his head, their eyes met for only a brief moment before he glanced to a spot just beyond the warlock. Merlin was about to question him and was just opening his mouth when the sound of familiar footsteps had him turning around just in time to see Arthur of all people come around the corner.

The prince didn't say anything at first, but he didn't really need to. The look on his face spoke volumes. He was staring at the warlock with a great deal of suspicion, his eyes darting around the small area rather discreetly, and Merlin immediately knew that he hadn't done a good enough job of keeping his voice down. It was going to take some quick thinking, a lot of deflecting, and a little bit of luck to get him out of this one.

"Merlin, what are you doing over here?" Arthur asked him, speaking carefully and cautiously as if he were talking to a small child (or an idiot with a mental affliction).

"Nothing."

"It sounded like you were talking to someone."

"I'm talking to you."

"That isn't what I meant, and you know it."

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, there isn't anyone here, so obviously I wasn't talking to anyone."

"Merlin…"

"Are you sure you're not just hearing things, sire? I mean, it's understandable, really. You've had a long day, so no one would blame you if you were."

The suspicious scowl on the prince's face very quickly became a glare, and without another word, Arthur turned around and stalked off. Merlin waited until he could no longer hear him stomping (because he was, no matter what he had to say about it) before releasing a deep, relieved sigh and slumping down in his chair.

Due to the pompous distraction that was Camelot's crowned prince, Merlin had almost forgotten about the ghost standing behind him, one who no longer seemed to be lost in his own torment but instead was musing quietly to himself.

"I guess you were right, Merlin."

"About what?" he asked, because he was pretty sure he no longer knew what they were talking about.

"He really would think you're a bit off if he found out you were talking to a ghost."

"He already thinks I'm a bit off." He figured it was probably best not to mention that sometimes he thought he might be too, but judging by the laughter coming from behind him, Rhoshad already knew.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon, going into evening, that Merlin finally decided that he was done reading. He hadn't been able to find anything new or useful, though he got the feeling that part of the reason was because he had spent most of his time mulling over what he had already learned, trying to cement it into his mind and piece together the information into something that could help him.

Unfortunately, he was still missing a lot of pieces. There was just too much that he still didn't know.

The other problem he was having was deciding what, when, and how to share what he had found out. This time around he wasn't going to keep any of them in the dark. They all had a right to know the truth, and it was important for them all to understand just what the vale was. Now that he knew, he couldn't stand the thought of them continuing to view it all as something malicious. He wanted them to understand, but he honestly had no idea where to even begin. He also wasn't sure how to get around the fact that his information had mostly come from a ghost—and not just any ghost either, but a sorcerer who had been dead for hundreds of years.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way around it. Lying wouldn't work. There was no way they'd believe him if he told them that he had simply been able to figure it out, and if he said that he had found it in a book, they would ask him to show it to them. Any lie he told would either be seen through or exposed.

If only the four of them could see Rhoshad, or at the very least hear him. Then all his problems would be solved.

"Rhoshad," he began, gaining the sorcerer's attention and drawing it away from the window he had been peering out of, "isn't there some way for them to see you or at least hear you?"

"I told you, my magic isn't strong enough for something like that."

Merlin just heaved a deep sigh and slumped forward onto the table. He was just getting ready to accept his failure at finding an easy solution and simply acknowledge the fact that his life would never be fair when a thought suddenly struck him.

Rhoshad had claimed that his magic wasn't strong enough. He hadn't said anything about Merlin's.

"What if…what if you borrowed mine?"

When all his question earned him was a confused stare, he quickly elaborated.

"You said that a connection had been made between us, so couldn't we somehow use that to let you borrow some of my magic?"

"I…I suppose that would be possible. Usually the connection is only supposed to work on an emotional level, though I guess I've never actually tried it with magic before…but Merlin, it would likely be quite taxing on you. It probably wouldn't threaten your life, but it will drain you. Your magic may be vast, but it is not infinite."

"I know, but I'm willing to try. I want them to know."

For a long while Rhoshad didn't say anything. He looked to be deep in thought, his brow furrowed as he processed Merlin's request. The warlock wasn't sure why he needed so much time to think it over, but he kept quiet and allowed the sorcerer the time he needed. He couldn't help but wonder though if there was something Rhoshad was worried about, something that could potentially go wrong if they were to try it (and a lot probably could, because nothing was ever easy, but Merlin had long since accepted that that's simply the way his life was).

In the end though, his decision was obvious. Whatever reservations he had about trying it were pushed back behind a pair of determined jade eyes. This was for the best.

They had to know.

"Alright, Merlin. We'll try it."

A/N: Well, there we are :) One more chapter down. Hopefully it was worth the wait, and hopefully it answered a few questions. The next chapter will have even more answers and will include one of the largest bits of dialogue that I have ever written (I've had the chapter planned for a long while, and now I just need to write it :)

Anyways, thank you to everyone who reviewed. I was able to get through all of my responses this week. Please feel free to comment, and always feel free to be honest with your opinions. I welcome honesty (just so long as you don't attack me simply because my perspective is different from yours :) Also thank you to everyone who has favorited and alerted as well as those who are simply here to read. Thank you so much!

Review Responses: As always, I like responding to everyone, and since I answered all the rest of the reviews for the last chapter, I'll respond to the ones I couldn't PM here :)

MerlinFan: Thank you! Glad you liked it :) Yes, getting around Eiwyn is definitely going to be a bit of a problem for them (I'm actually still sort of working out that bit myself. I'm not good at having plans). I always have a lot of fun getting to write the knights when they're worried about Merlin (especially Arthur since he's crap at showing he cares). Such fun, and there shall definitely be a bit more of it before we're done :)

Xander: Thanks for the review :) I know I've said this before (somewhere), but I do apreciate an honest opinion even if it doesn't necessarily line up with mine. We're all entitled to one, after all, and I've long since stopped allowing it to bother me :) I personally don't feel like I've pushed any limits too far. Circumstances have a lot to do with a person's actions and reactions, and given the situation I put them all in and what I've already put them through, I just don't personally feel that Arthur is OOC. He does care (season 4 has proof enough of that) even if he is crap at showing it sometimes.

asdf: Thank you for the review :) I'm just glad you enjoyed the chapter. I hope I can continue to do them all justice in the chapters to come. I rather adore these characters (and the whole series in general), and it's great fun getting to write them all :) Especially when I get to put them in difficult situations. It just makes it all that much more interesting :)

Well, thanks everyone for reading. Until next week :)