Hello!
Happy belated St. Patrick's Day. This chapter went by very quickly! Thank you all for the kind words and comments on this story. I'm going to try to get better at responding to reviews from now on. I appreciate them so very much, and I want to let all of you know that!
Enjoy!
~Ra1n
Previously...
With the final word, the creature tilted its head back and howled in pain, fingers digging into the wound, blood pulsing between them as something small and hard was pulled out and flung in Arthur's direction.
Arthur recoiled as the thing skittered to a halt on the floor inches from his feet, illuminated by its own faint internal light:
A shard of ruby.
Arthur couldn't catch his breath as he suddenly took on an entirely new view of the welts that dotted the creature's arms. "Y-You-" he stammered, unsure of what to say.
The creature was still recovering from the violent outburst, but took the moment to fix its gaze on Arthur. "Yes?" It managed between breaths.
"But we removed the jewels," Arthur managed to get out.
But the creature just shook its head, smiling through a grimace as if in disbelief.
"You aren't the sharpest, are you? Not so quick on the upkeep? Not all of them, and besides, the collar is still on." It straightened, the hole in its chest still trickling gold-tinted blood. "Now you must answer my questions. Tell me, who are you and how have you come to be here?"
But Arthur wasn't listening. He was staring at the shard of ruby. What had Iseldir said? Something about exploiting the hole in the collar with magic. About how Arthur's magic was the piece of Merlin's magic that was free from the collar's affects.
But what was Arthur supposed to do with that information? Why hadn't Iseldir given him more instruction? He'd just thrown him into this spell completely blind, with just a vague understanding of destinies and magic and interconnection.
"I'll ask again," the creature snarled, "Who are you? How did you arrive here?"
"Arthur. The Druids helped me."
The creature shook its head. "Not Arthur," it said, "he'd never trust the Druids enough to cast a spell on him."
"How can I prove it to you?"
The creature scratched its jaw with chipped nails. "You can't," it said finally.
"The other Merlins believed me quickly enough. What makes you different?"
"I'm not a fool."
Arthur stared.
"Merlin and I are very close, but he can be a bit… Daft," the creature continued.
"How can you speak as if you are separate from him?"
The creature laughed. "With a collar and some jewels. I'd say the separation is pretty complete. Besides, his magic resides in other places." The creature cracked is neck and winced. "And I have a different name: Emrys."
Arthur felt his chest grow tighter. "Merlin is Emrys."
"Not without his magic and destiny," another twitch, followed by a grimace, "he's just a little lost serving boy now."
"His magic resides in me, you know," Arthur said suddenly, and then felt overwhelmingly sad when the creature's words actually sunk in. Merlin isn't Emrys without his magic. Merlin has no destiny without his magic. How must it have felt to have his destiny stripped from him? To have something that fiercely embedded into the fabric of his being stolen away?
"In that case, you disgust me," the creature- Emrys- spat. "Wielding the thing you stole from Merlin as your own?"
"I thought you didn't believe that I'm Arthur." And I thought you'd be much friendlier, was left unsaid.
"I don't. But if you were trying to pacify me, you're doing a horrid job."
"I'm just trying to help you," Arthur said, but it came out more petulant than he would have liked, and the resulting cackle that erupted from the creature's throat was enough to startle him. Over the sound, Arthur shouted, "you can at least let me try!"
The cackling stopped, Emrys's eyes growing serious. "And why would I do that?"
"It's not as if I can make anything any worse, is it?" He looked pointedly at the ruby on the ground. "And... you're dying."
The ruby looked like a scab, crusted and surrounded by pus. The collar, he remembered now, had looked beautiful to him. But now the metal was infection, the jewels bloody sores and boils. Arthur stooped to pick up the red gem, but hissed in surprise when it sent a jolt of discomfort through his fingers.
"...yes. There's nothing you can do about that." Sorrow filled Emrys's voice. Arthur looked up. The death claim had been a gamble. The creature looked resigned, tired. Its breathing was still heavy, and it was obvious that it wasn't going to improve any time soon. The collar was killing it slowly, and it seemed to be reaching its end. Even Arthur, with his pathetic threads of immature magic, could feel the way the exhaustion was eating away at the creature.
"I have a question, though," Arthur said finally, keeping eye contact. "I can tell you're lying. You know I'm actually Arthur. Why deny it?"
Instead of answering immediately, Emrys ran a hand through its hair, tugging at the dark strands absently. Its eyes went to its feet. A shiver visibly ran down its spine, and it let out a laugh that rapidly turned into a hacking cough. As Arthur watched, the coughs grew wetter, until Emrys was shuddering and breathing in a way that was reminiscent of crying… although Arthur wasn't sure Merlin's magic was capable of crying, even in this twisted human form.
"Emrys-" The name rolled off Arthur's tongue. "I-"
"Don't speak that name," Emrys hissed, the strange sobs ceasing. It looked at Arthur, "you don't deserve to."
Arthur shut his mouth, knowing they were on the precipice of something important, something his big mouth could ruin in a matter of moments.
"You threw it away," it continued, head still bowed, "you threw all of it away. Destiny. Trust. Protection. You think your destiny was ruined?" It fixed Arthur with a glare. "Imagine Merlin's! Destiny. Trust. Health." It's voice rose in pitch. "You took his life away from him, Arthur! His friends, his magic, his dignity-" a shuddering breath, "-you took his- my- our- body from us! Locked me up and threw away the key! Had me beaten, starved, tortured. Abandoned me to die in the dark! And you know what? I was finally, finally content with dying… And then you showed up."
Arthur looked stricken. Emrys took a step towards him, eyes dark and glowing.
"You're here, and you've ruined everything!" Arthur flinched back, Emrys's cold breath in his face. "Why couldn't you leave me alone? Let me die in peace? Give me that one mercy…" Its voice cracked. "But no, now you need to be here, too. Well, I'm not having it this time! Merlin might be gone from me, but I can still remember the pain. I can still hear the pleas falling on deaf ears. Just end it all, just kill me, please- I can still hear him screaming. I can still-" the creature choked on its own breath. "I can still-"
At some point, Arthur had fallen to his knees, though he couldn't remember when. "I'm sorry," he was saying, over and over again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Emrys was gaining its composure again. "You ask me why it can't be you, standing before me. You ask me why I refuse to believe King Arthur has finally come."
Arthur held his breath, afraid any sound might somehow shatter the creature.
"You can't be here now because you were never here before. You never came back. You never listened. You never showed the compassion that I once believed was in your heart. You never once looked at me, in all those weeks. I prayed that you'd change your mind, that you weren't exactly what I feared you were.
And now? It can't be you now, because you're too late. It can't be you now because…" Emrys's voice was nearly too soft to hear as it uttered the final words of its rant:
"... Because I can never forgive you."
A/N: How was the pacing for this chapter? Too rushed? Too slow? I'm thinking of maybe revising it, but I would like feedback!