Surprise || Merlin

"I suppose I'll have to add the force of gravity to my list of enemies."
― Lemony Snicket, The Penultimate Peril

Merlin can sense the Cup's power as soon as they enter the castle walls, and he guides Lancelot in the direction it pulls him. Merlin expected the Cup to feel different than before, as the last time he had been in its presence it was used for good, but it felt much the same. Maybe there was no good or bad when it came to using magic to decide who should live and who should die. Or maybe the power over life and death had only ever been evil, to begin with.

Merlin and Lancelot ran from hidden corner to hidden corner through the first hallway, but there were too many of the immortal soldiers patrolling to avoid them for long. As planned, Merlin killed them one by one with the dragon's sword, Lancelot keeping ones Merlin couldn't fight occupied until he could take them.

It takes a surprisingly short time to reach the throne room. Every moment of the journey that he isn't focused on fighting, Merlin reminds himself what's at stake. Hopefully, the absence of alarm bells meant that Gwaine and Kristoff were fine, but Arthur might have run into more immortal soldiers anyway, despite no warning being sounded.

At least he had Elsa with him. Her ice could protect them for a time. Hopefully, Hans was near the Cup, or at least far away from the dungeons so that Elsa wouldn't have to face him.

"What do we do now?" Lancelot whispered, peering around their last corner.

Merlin shook his head for silence and then motioned for Lancelot to follow his lead before leaping into action. He immediately took down the first of the men guarding the door while Lancelot held off another. Once all three were down, they pushed open the doors to the council room, locked the door, and were faced with more guards.

Merlin knew it was more than they could handle immediately. Merlin was only so good with a sword, and Lancelot couldn't fight so many on his own. He just didn't expect Lancelot to fall so quickly.

It was a moment before he realized the sword in Lancelot's side was no soldier's, but Morgause's, thrown from her position between the Cup filled with blood and her enemies.

"Morgause!"

She stood in armour as she had the first time Merlin had set eyes on her. Back then, she had been a mystery, one Merlin was suspicious of, but not an entirely evil entity. All of that had changed. Her helmet was already cast away, her sword in Lancelot's side because she didn't need it this time. She wasn't there to issue a challenge. The challenge had already been accepted, there were no rules against magic, and she was winning.

"I have a feeling," she took a few leisurely steps toward Merlin, "I won't be seeing you again."

"I certainly hope I never have to see you again," Merlin spat back. He still held Excalibur at his side, but he knew there was no way he'd get close enough to use it. He had to end the fight quickly, get to the cup, and get Lancelot back to Gaius.

Morgause continued to drift closer and closer, not quite smiling, but showing no signs of fear. "This is the end for you, Merlin. Morgana has complained about you so many times, and your death would come as quite the shot to the dear prince. I see no reason to spare you. So, would you rather a beheading? Fire or drowning, perhaps? Or should I just let you bleed out like your poor friend there." She tutted lightly as she gazed over at Lancelot.

Merlin didn't bother to respond. She didn't deserve one. Lancelot would be fine. Merlin would be fine, just so long as he kept his focus.

"Actrice!*" Merlin pushed his hand out towards Morgause and watched her fly back. Morgause's eyes widened in shock before slamming shut as her skull met stone and she collapsed onto the ground.

Merlin ran for the Cup and tripped over a discarded sword. Under his breath, he cursed gravity for betraying him and scrambled to get back on his feet. Before Merlin could take another step, he was lifted violently into the air by a piercing scream.

"You have magic!" Morgana yelled. "You had magic this whole time, and you didn't tell me? WHY? Why would you poison me for my magic when you have your own?"

"Is that what you think I did?" Merlin wiped away the blood dripping from a wound in his head to block his vision. He had never fully understood Morgana's transformation from good to willing to murder innocent people, but the reasoning she had just stated hadn't even occurred to him.

He blamed himself for her betrayal. But he blamed himself for an entirely different reason than she did.

"What else am I supposed to think, Merlin?" She walked toward him, not preparing to cast another spell. She was curious enough to keep her powers at bay. "If that's not the reason why you did it, then… what was?"

"You were the source of the spell's magic. Morgause used you. It was your life, or Camelot's, and I had to choose."

"You only had to choose on your own because you wouldn't tell me, or Arthur. Maybe I would have been able to stop it somehow if it was my magic."

"I thought you knew. I thought you had cast the spell voluntarily." Merlin glanced at the Cup, still full of blood. It was so close, and Morgana wasn't looking at it. But she was looking at Merlin. He tried not to indicate that he saw motion behind her.

Morgana shook her head, her eyes growing distant for a moment before returning. "It doesn't matter. Arthur would have you killed once he found out your secret, and as you awaited your execution you'd think of me and wish you had joined us while you still could."

Gaius stepped out from behind a pillar and hobbled as quietly as he could towards the cup.

"Really? I think you don't give Arthur enough credit for being open-minded, Morgana," Merlin whispered. "Because I don't think he'll have me executed."

"It's to bad you won't live to find out," Morgana sneered.

Gaius snatched the Cup of Life off the podium and dumped the blood out onto the floor with a look of disgust.

Morgana turned on her heel and shrieked again. "No! No, no, no, NO!"

Gaius was thrown across the room much like Merlin had been, but the old man wasn't so lucky. He hit his head and remained slumped, a mirror of Morgause who still sat unconscious only a few paces away.

"Morgause! Morgana!" Hans ran into the room and froze, seeing the bodies, dust, and spilt blood before him. "The King and his knights have escaped. We can't fight them without those soldiers, what happened?*"

"There were some unavoidable and unexpected events," Morgana said cooly. "I see you've failed at your simple task, so don't berate me for not succeeding at something much more difficult."

Merlin and Morgana once again faced each other. His eyes darted to Gaius, who groaned and moved his head. Merlin sighed in relief. At least he was alive. Hopefully, he would recover soon enough to help with Lancelot.

Morgana didn't block him when he ran to check on Gaius, her only concern for her sister. Merlin didn't blast her with more magic like he had Morgause. He could have. It might have been the best option, but he couldn't, not after finding out that she believed him a traitor to magic this whole time. Not when it was his fault she had turned on them. When Merlin looked back again, Morgause, Hans, and Morgana were only fading forms in a funnel of wind.

"Gaius?"

"Merlin," Gaius mumbled.

"I have to go see if I can help Lancelot, but I'll be back."

Gaius nodded agreeably with his eyes still shut.

Lancelot was worse off than Merlin first thought. He lay unconscious on the ground, surrounded by the blood that ran from the gash in his side as well as one on his leg that Merlin hadn't previously noticed.

Merlin tore off fabric from his shirt and did his best to slow the bleeding, but he needed more supplies.

"Merlin!" Arthur was at his side in seconds as soon as he saw the dire state of one of his finest knights. "What do you need?"

Elsa caught up a moment later. "Move your hands, Merlin," she ordered.

"He needs — "

She shoved his hands aside and ripped off the makeshift bandages Merlin had spent the past minutes making. Her hands hovered over the first wound and a gentler stream of ice seemed to pour out from them like mist. Merlin, Arthur, and the rest of the knights watched as she repeated the procedure on Lancelot's leg.

"That will do better than any bandage."

Merlin nodded. The bleeding stopped as soon as the ice coated the opening in Lancelot's skin. Now his recovery would depend on how much blood he had already lost before Elsa patched him up.

Standing back up again, Arthur looked around.

"Where are they? Morgause? Hans? Morgana?"

There was still so much pain in his eyes when he said her name.

"They escaped. I knocked out Morgause, and without their army, Morgana and Hans decided to run for it." Merlin explained what had happened without much thought for how odd it would sound given that he was telling the story to Arthur.

"You knocked out Morgause? The powerful sorceress? Are you sure we're talking about the same person?"

"Er, yes?"

"How did you do it?"

Merlin looked at Elsa. She shrugged unhelpfully.

"I used magic."

"Magic."

"Yes."

"You mean the magical item you were talking about?" Arthur said slowly.

"No." Merlin looked past Arthur's head, pretending to keep focused on Arthur, but unable to meet his eyes. "I mean I used magic myself."

Everyone's eyes followed the conversation, but none of the knights spoke while they waited for Arthur's response. Arthur turned his head to look at Elsa, then back to Merlin. "She's been teaching you."

"No, Arthur. I already knew how." This was not how Merlin had imagined telling Arthur about this. Not in front of his knights, even if it was only his closest few, the ones that sat with him around the round table and agreed to a suicide mission. And, luckily for Merlin, he was saved from further explanation by a groan from across the room.

"Gaius!" Merlin breathed. "I promise I'll tell you more, Arthur, but I need to — "

Arthur waved a hand. "Just go. Just. Just go." Merlin couldn't watch as Arthur stalked out of the room, one hand massaging his forehead. Hopefully, the fact that he hadn't made any action against Merlin was a sign of forgiveness, but Merlin couldn't help but think it was just a sign that Arthur was tired. Tomorrow would be the day he made his decision.

All of my readers (yes, you) thank you for reading! I'd love it if you left a review.

Juxshoa thanks for your reviews! Don't worry about the ending... we'll get there when we get there :)

anonymous reviewer "AU Over Canon" Please stop using my work to post your own, or whatever it is you're doing. As soon as I've posted this I am going to delete your so called reviews. I'm not sure what your point of posting them is - if you have something to say to me, please write it in a normal review. If you want to post your own fic, get your own account and do it. Posting lengthy comments that contain a separate story and aren't at all about my work is rude, please stop.