A/N: Thank you GuestM Live and Buckhunter for reviewing!
No. 10 POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS + No. 21 "Take me instead"
The Veil rippled and gusted before them, casting its unearthly hue through the air. Arthur and Gwaine lay on the ground, out cold, and the other knights were still occupied with the wyverns outside. Now was the time for Merlin to make his move.
"Take me," he told the Cailleach. "A living sacrifice to close the Veil."
The pale goddess regarded him coolly. "Your life is already bound to another," she replied and glanced at Arthur. "Someone else's is required."
"Take me, then," Lancelot spoke up.
Merlin whirled toward him. "No!" This was his sacrifice to make, for Arthur.
The Cailleach's lips curved upward. "Sacrifice accepted."
Lancelot's body jerked suddenly, his back arching and eyes blowing wide. A stream of pure blue light exited from his mouth and swirled toward the Cailleach. She captured it in a crystal, and Lancelot's body dropped bonelessly to the ground.
"No!" Merlin screamed.
"It is done," she declared. "A life to open the Veil, a life to seal it."
The rift began to close in on itself, melding back together and then disappearing, plunging the chamber into darkness, save for the bright blue aura in the crystal.
"Do not fret, Emrys," the Cailleach said. "The knight's noble soul will be well safe-guarded."
With that, she vanished. Merlin fell to his knees in devastation. He vaguely heard the groans and shuffling of Arthur and Gwaine waking up, and a moment later, Leon, Percival, and Elyan arrived. They pulled up short, eyes wide with question. Arthur looked around in confusion.
"Merlin, what—"
Merlin turned watery eyes to face them. "Lancelot sacrificed himself to close the Veil," he said.
Arthur's eyes widened and he snapped his gaze to the fallen knight. There was a beat of hesitation before he moved forward, sinking to his knees and reaching out to feel for a life pulse. Merlin knew there was none. Arthur bowed his head.
"It was to be my sacrifice," he uttered.
No, it was to be Merlin's.
They solemnly wrapped Lancelot's body in their cloaks and bore him back to Camelot. Gwen was waiting for their return, and when she counted their faces to determine who was shrouded in blood red, she let out a grief-stricken sob. Merlin's insides were screaming as well. This wasn't the way things were supposed to go.
They laid Lancelot's body in the chamber where it would be prepared for burial. Merlin was too overwrought to remain, and he finally fled outside for some air. He staggered his way to the well and bowed over it, tears of grief finally breaking free.
"Merlin," a voice whispered from below.
He jerked his head up to find a few glowing spheres floating up to him. He cast a frantic look over his shoulder to make sure no one else was seeing this, but people were apparently giving him a wide berth in his grief.
"Merlin," they said soberly. "The Cailleach deceived you."
He stiffened, his blood running cold. "What do you mean? The Veil was closed! I saw it!"
"Yes, but only a life needed to be sacrificed to close it, not a soul. The Cailleach took Sir Lancelot for her own whims."
Merlin gaped at them, not understanding what they were saying.
"She takes pleasure in capturing those pure of heart and tormenting them. So she has done with Sir Lancelot. Only you can save him, Merlin."
"How?"
"You will find the entrance to her realm on the Isle of the Blessed."
"And then what?" Merlin straightened. "Can I bring Lancelot back to life?"
The Vilia nodded.
He faltered. "Will that open the Veil again?"
"No, the life was given and it was closed. Returning the life will not undo it."
Merlin turned and ran back into the castle.
"Gaius!" he exclaimed, bursting into the physician's chambers.
"Merlin, I heard. I'm so sorry."
"Delay the funeral. I think I can bring Lancelot back."
Gaius frowned. "Merlin, don't you dare think of using dark magic that way."
"I'm not! The Vilia told me where Lancelot's soul is, that the Cailleach tricked us! I can bring him back."
With that, he turned and ran out of the room, ignoring Gaius's sputtering calls to come back.
Merlin made the journey back to the Isle of the Blessed by himself, a path he was well familiar with by now. But the ruins appeared empty, and Merlin knew the Cailleach had no reason to show herself if he tried to summon her. The Vilia said he could enter her realm, though, so he focused on channeling his magic to find the doorway. It was similar to the Veil, a rift like a parted curtain over a passageway, but invisible to the naked eye.
Merlin steeled himself and passed through it. The Cailleach's realm was an island, much like the physical isle Merlin had traversed to get here, but the ruins in this place were overgrown with moss and ivy, and there was an otherworldly hue to the air. He ventured through the ancient fortress older than time itself until he found the Cailleach's lair nested in a small chamber. A glowing blue aura wreathed the air the closer Merlin got, and when he peeked inside, he saw dozens of crystals hanging from thread attached to a netted ceiling, each one containing a pure blue energy. Souls. And they were screaming. Horrible, gut-wrenching screams of torment.
The Cailleach was sitting in a rickety rocking chair, head tilted and eyes closed as though she were listening to a delightful symphony. The souls in the crystals flickered and sputtered. Merlin didn't know how he was supposed to find Lancelot's in all this.
The Cailleach suddenly snapped to attention and whipped her gaze toward where Merlin was watching. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.
Cover blown, he stepped out into the open. "You lied to me. Lancelot's soul wasn't yours to take."
She chortled. "All mortal souls are mine to take as I will."
"For this?" Merlin challenged, stiffening his stance. "Not while I live."
She scowled at him and raised her hand to cast a spell. Merlin did the same, surprised at how much stronger his magic felt in this place, like it was tapping into the inherent magic of the realm. Mustering this newfound force, Merlin unleashed his magic fully, slamming into the goddess and throwing her across the room. He then urgently scanned the crystals, trying to determine which one was Lancelot. His magic seemed to ping on that, too, homing in on one crystal in particular.
Merlin snatched it off the twine and immediately felt the soul within resonating with familiarity. He then turned to make a hasty retreat but paused at the last second. The Cailleach was getting up and preparing to battle him again, so Merlin uttered a spell that shattered all the other crystals in the chamber. The Cailleach shrieked in rage, but all those freed spirits descended on her in vengeful waves, and Merlin fled.
He made it back to his own realm, Lancelot's soul still trapped inside the crystal. He closed his fist around it tightly. "Soon," he promised and turned toward home.
Gaius was the first person he ran into in the castle.
"Merlin! Where have you been?"
"I don't have time to explain. I need you to clear the chamber where Lancelot's body is."
"Merlin—"
Merlin opened his hand to reveal the glowing crystal.
Gaius's brows rose sharply. "Is that…?"
"Yes, now hurry."
Gaius sighed but nevertheless led the way to the vigil chamber where servants had washed Lancelot's body and dressed him in burial garments. He was so still and pale, hands folded over each other on his chest in repose.
Gaius cleared his throat loudly at the mourners. "I need the room."
The servants left, and once they were gone, Merlin hurried to the altar and used his magic to break open the crystal. He then directed the released soul to return to its mortal home. The glowing blue light slipped between white lips and settled in his sternum, and then Lancelot's body arched as he sucked in a gasping breath, eyes blowing wide. He flailed his limbs in panic and would have fallen off the altar if Merlin and Gaius hadn't stepped in to restrain him.
"Lancelot!" Merlin shouted. "You're safe! It's okay. You're okay."
Lancelot's rolling eyes flitted back and forth as he began to hyperventilate.
"You're okay," Merlin kept repeating. "It's me and Gaius."
"How are we going to explain this?" Gaius snipped.
"Is that really important right now?" Merlin huffed back.
"It's about to be."
Merlin craned his neck to see Arthur, Gwen, and the knights entering the room. They all pulled up short in shock and alarm.
"Arthur!" Merlin exclaimed. "We don't know what happened—some spirits just came flying through here, brought Lancelot back to life, and left!"
Gaius shot him a glare, no doubt at the lameness of Merlin's explanation.
Everyone continued to look flabbergasted, but then Arthur's face drained of color.
"What about the Veil? If it's open again…"
"That's unlikely," Gaius interrupted. "A sacrifice was given freely and can't be rejected. More likely the gatekeeper decided to have mercy on Lancelot for his noble sacrifice and return him to us."
Merlin clenched his jaw at painting the Cailleach as the benevolent being in all this, but they needed Arthur and the others to not question this miracle further.
Lancelot was still thrashing weakly, completely disoriented.
"He's going into shock," Gaius said. "We need to get him to my chambers."
Percival and Leon immediately came forward to lift the bier Lancelot was lying on, and Merlin did his best to keep him calm as they carried him through the castle halls. There were many shocked gasps and frightened murmurs from the people they passed, but Merlin couldn't worry about that now.
Arthur, Gwen, and the other knights followed close behind, all of them crowding into Gaius's chambers as Lancelot was laid on the patient cot.
"Lancelot, can you hear me?" Percival prompted.
Lancelot didn't respond, just continued to roll his head around wildly, chest heaving. Given where he'd just come from, Merlin understood why he'd be so disoriented.
He finally worked himself into exhaustion and passed out from the stress.
"Will he be all right?" Arthur asked tightly.
"I can't say what toll coming back from the dead will take on someone," Gaius replied noncommittally.
Leon cleared his throat. "I can attest to it being…disorienting. And I wasn't fully dead when the Druids saved my life."
Merlin was silently grateful for Leon's ready acceptance of Lancelot's miraculous return.
"He's back, that's all that matters, right?" Elyan put in.
They all quietly agreed.
"Still, we should set extra watches tonight," Arthur said. He turned to Gaius. "Notify me when he wakes."
Gaius nodded.
Arthur and the guys left, but Gwen lingered, looking wrecked with emotion. None of them said much as they all settled in to tend their friend now back from the dead.