Chapter 10: Held in Chains But Now I'm Free

Max came back to himself with two sets of supporting arms around him.

He blinked, his throat aching as if he had been screaming, and that still didn't make any sense, he was in his head, why? But he was immediately distracted from that by the fact that Virgil and Morgan were apparently cooperating. Virgil's arms were braced around his waist, and he had one hand tangled in his robes, and Morgan was bearing his weight against her side with her own arms looped over his shoulders.

"Virg? Morg?"

"Mighty One!" Somehow, Virgil managed to sound relieved, concerned, and extremely tenuous all at once. "Are you…?"

"Breathe, Chosen One," Morgan said. "You have been through far more than your share."

"I asked for it, though," he said. "And Virg went through it, too, so…"

She scowled, and that made Max want to laugh.

"Is it weird that everything is the same, after being someplace else for, like, a year? I mean, talk about situational whiplash."

At that, Morgan stiffened. "Chosen One, I…"

"I know, you're dulling it again. I get it, though. I appreciate the breather, but lay it on me. Let's rip this Band-Aid off already."

Morgan nodded, and Max's heart became awash in pain and guilt and revulsion and not a little reawakened trauma. He started to tremble, and it was only the combined pair of arms that held him upright.

Max considered trying to shake it off.

Thought about the face Peter would make if he tried doing any such thing.

And gave into the need to have a full blown panic attack.

-==OOO==-

Virgil had seen this before, but judging from Morgan le Fay's expression as the Mighty One descended into hysterical crying, eyes unseeing, muttering words to himself that made little sense, she had not.

"It's going to be all right," Virgil found himself saying to both of them. "He is overwhelmed. Let him process the worst of it now, and we will see to him when it is over."

Morgan opened her mouth and Virgil interrupted, knowing exactly what she was going to say.

"Don't interfere. He must be allowed to feel it in order to cope with it. If you mute his emotions, they will only return with greater force later. He cannot endure suppressing this much pain — it would tear him apart."

Morgan nodded, but her smooth face was tense. Virgil decided to count that as a victory — at least she was listening to him.

"I knew your experience was upsetting, but I suppose I did not consider…"

"That my history might resonate badly with his own?" Virgil sniffed with disdain. "Which of us can be accused of hurting him, then? I concealed this truth precisely because I did not wish to burden him with it. Because he would grieve, and he has grieved enough. And now you have thrown it into his face. The least you can do is help me deal with it."

"How?"

Virgil chose not to comment on how small and contrite her voice sounded.

"Let us sit him down." The Mighty One was becoming rather heavy in their arms as he gasped and sobbed. "It would be better if we were not in his mind where we could wrap him in blankets or offer him water, but for now this will do."

Morgan ended up sitting in the position of a backrest, arms looped around the Mighty One's chest as he rocked back and forth against her. Virgil knelt in front, holding the Mighty One's hands and periodically wiping away the tears on his cheeks.

Time had little meaning while they comforted the boy between them, answering him softly when he managed to stutter questions and reassuring him when his eyes were sharp enough to see them. Eventually, his breathing slowed and his tears began to dry.

Finally he hauled in a deep gulp of air. He released Virgil's hands to squeeze Morgan's where she held him. Then he tipped forward and rested his forehead on Virgil's shoulder, the Cap shifting aside to accommodate him. Virgil glanced at Morgan, then wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders. For a long moment, he just breathed, holding them both.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I know you don't need me to say sorry, but I am. So thanks."

"Of course, Mighty One," Virgil whispered back.

"Chosen One…" Morgan began.

The Mighty One finally lifted his head and turned so he could face her.

"Thank you for showing me," he said.

"I didn't...it was…"

"I'd rather know. I'll take this stuff any day if it means I get to know the truth. I can...it's easier to feel the hurt than to be scared of not knowing."

Virgil sucked in a breath that ached.

"Even though…?" Morgan asked, and all at once Virgil remembered how young she was — she could not have been more than a few years older than the Mighty One when Merlin sealed her away. And his heart ached again.

"Even though," the Mighty One said. "Don't sweat it, Morg. But if Peter wants to talk to you when I go see him, you better be okay with that. Or I won't eat any ice cream for a month."

Virgil managed to smile at his boy's recovery, and he could see the beginnings of one in Morgan's eyes as well.

Perhaps, Virgil thought, we can make a peace between us after all.

-==OOO==-

Max felt like he had been run over by an aircraft carrier and then shoved through some kind of cheese grater, but for all that, he felt oddly better.

"So, basically," he said, "Skullmaster was as bad to you as he was to me."

"Mighty One, no," Virgil protested at once. "He never harmed me. Never so much as raised a hand against me. His crimes against Lemuria were catastrophically greater than anything he could have done to me."

"But, that's kinda the point," Max said. "You would rather he tore you apart than let him do what he did to Lemuria and all those people." He couldn't not shiver, but it didn't overwhelm his control.

"Yes," Virgil said, ducking his head. "Yes, I would."

"So it's the same. Because he was going to do that in Toyama, but he played with me instead. And now that I've seen both sides, honestly, watching him do that stuff was a lot harder." He made a smile that must have been pretty ugly from the way Virgil's eyebrows went up. "At least pain heals. Memory and guilt is a lot worse."

While he let Virgil chew on that, he turned to Morgan, scooting out of her lap — which wasn't weird, since she'd been in his head so boundaries were all kinds of strange already — and adjusting so he could sit facing them both at the same time.

"You were right that Virgil lied to me. He didn't tell me any of that stuff about Lemuria or Skullmaster or how it all went down. But I get it. If not for Toyama, I think he would have told me. He didn't want to hurt me again. He didn't want me to have to think that more deaths were my fault."

"They're not — " she began.

"They are," he said, knowing it was true with all his heart. "Apparently it was written," and boy did he ever hate that phrase now, seriously, "that all of Lemuria had to be sacrificed for me. That the only way to line up the pieces that would dump Skullmaster into the center of the earth was to let him win for a little while. So, in order to keep him from getting the Cap, to keep him from getting more power, he had to fight with the Eldest. Everything happened to maneuver him into position for Maximus to put him on ice. And for me to get born so I could put a more permanent fix in."

He drew in a deep breath.

"Lemuria and everyone in it died as part of setting this all up. They died for me."

"Mighty One…" Virgil began.

"I didn't see anything after you left for Devokan. What happened?"

Virgil sighed, but nodded, understanding that Max wanted answers more than sympathy.

"The Eldest entered into a great battle with S'arel...with Skullmaster." He twitched. "Their powers rocked the very stones of Lemuria, toppling buildings and cracking the earth. Those who survived fled, running for higher ground as the sea began to consume the city. When the Eldest died, the foundations under the landmass that had been Lemuria shattered."

He paused, collecting himself.

"No one knew until then that it was the power of the Eldest that birthed our continent in the first place. The writings in Devokan made it clear that Lemuria was never intended to survive him except through me."

"Virg…"

"The survivors spread out across the world. A few became the Ancient Clan, those who are tied to your friends in Japan. Others founded the order of monks who still guard the secrets of Devokan in the Himalayas. Still others settled on what we know as Dragon Island and became Tamoori's people. Lemuria was forgotten."

"And Skullmaster?"

"Escaped the destruction as he was intended to, but greatly weakened. The Eldest broke his connection with many of the powers he inherited from his evil master, and even the Crystal of Souls could not restore them. He spent several thousand years building up more power and influence, taking the lessons of Lemuria and using them to create a new civilization he could control."

Max nodded. "Atlantis."

"Correct." Virgil's eyes quirked, pleased he had figured it out. "He needed the resources he could get from an advanced people, and the ability to use them for his evil without having to control them directly. He learned that guile was even more effective than fear at getting what he wanted while his power regrew. When he was at last ready, he triggered the destruction of Atlantis, took their souls, and began his assault upon the world with his army."

"What about that master of his?" Max wanted to know.

"The Evil One." Virgil failed to suppress a shiver. "A being from another dimension, powerful beyond the telling of it. However, there is nothing written which says that you need ever worry about him. He may be impossible to defeat, but for as long as you are alive, Mighty One, he ought not ever threaten this dimension directly."

"That's...not as encouraging as you think, Virg."

Virgil could only shrug.

Max returned his focus to Morgan.

"So, the point is that Virgil did lie to me. He kept stuff from me that I did have a right to know. But he did it because he didn't want to hurt me. Not because he was manipulating me."

"He did it to protect himself," Morgan said, scowling.

"That, too," Max acknowledged. "But...I mean, can you really blame him? Virg got taken for a ride by Skullmaster in the worst possible way. He...he was playing a game with rules nobody told him, trying to win a fight that was never going to be fair. He was…"

Max broke off, insight striking like lightning.

"Virgil was just like me."

They both objected at once.

"Mighty One, I — "

"Chosen One, that — "

Max silenced them both with a gesture and a glare.

"Fifteen thousand years ago, Virgil was a normal Teacher. All he ever wanted was to Teach."

"I also believed in my arrogance that I had a Destiny to rival your own," Virgil put in. Max glared harder and the Lemurian fell silent.

"Okay, so the circumstances aren't identical. But fundamentally, it was the same. Virg got chosen to do some stuff he didn't necessarily sign on for. Somebody — the Eldest, I guess — set up this whole thing without any kind of consent by anybody involved. Just like how I got pulled into this mess in the first place. And it was just as overwhelming for him, and he was in over his head, and he made a ton of mistakes along the way — just like me."

Virgil looked pained, and Max gave him a smile.

"It's okay. I'm better with it all now. You know that. And it wasn't ever your fault I got the lucky straw of destiny. It's mainly Skullmaster's fault, because if he weren't out to take over the world, we wouldn't have to do any of it. But after that, everything that happened happened because it was written to happen."

"That is how prophecy works, Mighty One."

"No," Morgan said. "There is a difference between things happening as written and things happening because they are written."

"Right." Max nodded at her, his mind and intuition carrying him to new conclusions. "Your Eldest was trying to do the right thing, but he was using prophecy as a way to control the future. You've told me that destiny is equal parts chance, free will, and fate, right?"

Virgil blinked. "Yes."

"The whole Lemurian perspective is dependent on people using those prophecies to determine their free will. Your people were so tied up by what they were foretold to do, by how it was written to go, that they made it go that way."

Morgan was nodding. "This was my constant struggle with Merlin as well. He believed he could interpret prophecy to guide the future, and thus would make no choices against what he believed was to be." She frowned. "He also weighed the well-being of some far-flung future as more relevant than the lives of people living alongside him."

"The Eldest did that, too," Max said. "He basically threw the entire population of Lemuria and Atlantis under the big prophecy bus, instead of looking for a way around the fate part and letting free will and chance make stuff work out okay."

"But...Mighty One…"

Max turned to Virgil and he could feel warmth bubbling up in his chest. A warmth he knew and welcomed — the warmth of his inborn powers. The warmth of certainty that this was the way to win.

Not because it was written. Because he was making a choice.

"The Eldest told you that it was the Lemurian way, Virg. In that ice cave. That the definition of Lemurian Destiny was to do what was proscribed. Right?"

Virgil could only nod.

"He also told you there were people who could break that destiny. People like me." He smiled at Virg's widening eyes. "I reset time. I saved you and Norman even though it was written that you would die. I changed the game."

"Y-yes, I suppose."

"Which means all that written stuff doesn't have to apply anymore. Lemurian prophecies might tell us what could happen, but they don't have to tell us what's going to happen after I get involved. You even said so when I let Skullmaster out of the center of the Earth. I didn't go against prophecy — I fulfilled it even better."

"I...perhaps…"

"Virg, I'm who the Eldest was talking about. I'm the one who can break Destiny." And suddenly Max's excitement evaporated. "Which means...he was right all along."

"Chosen One?" Morgan asked, concerned at the unexpected solemnity.

"The prophecies said that the Krateros would destroy Lemuria. We thought it was because you and Skullmaster would die, and it would go with you. But that's not what happened."

"No," Virgil said, recovering. "You saved me, and Norman as well."

"But...so, let's say that Skullmaster really doesn't count as part of Lemuria anymore. Because he's not exactly the ideal...anything not evil, I guess." He shrugged. "So it's just you, Virg."

"That is a valid interpretation."

"And for as long as you're following prophecy, you're doing everything you're supposed to do. You're being the perfect Lemurian Eldest. You're still acting like a Lemurian."

Virgil blinked.

"But I break those prophecies, Virg. And...and I want you to start breaking them, too."

Virgil rocked back, breath escaping him in a rush.

Max leaned forward, letting his words come without trying to anticipate them. "We can't keep doing things the way you always did. It doesn't work. It's fine if you want to tell me when evil radioactive rabbits are eating the rainforest or something, but when it comes to anything else, all you can be sure of is how it gets started. As soon as we get there, whatever was written goes out the window and the Mighty One rewrites the script. That's how it's supposed to be."

"I see," Morgan said softly.

Virgil was still blinking. Max swallowed, but forged ahead.

"Lemuria will live as long as you do, Virg. As long as you're acting like a Lemurian. But if you stop, if you quit letting the prophecies tell you what has to happen and start letting them set you up to make your own choices, then you won't be acting like a Lemurian."

He lowered his eyes.

"And when you stop acting like a Lemurian, that's when Lemuria will truly be gone. Because of me. The Krateros will destroy Lemuria — by giving the last Lemurian his freedom to choose."

Max looked up and tried to smile.

"The same way you gave it to me after Toyama."

Virgil looked pretty shell-shocked, so Max opted to give him some space. He got up and wandered away.

Not that I can go far. I mean, we're still in my head and there's nothing here. But it's the thought that counts.

"Chosen One?"

"Hey, Morg."

"Are you well?"

"No," he said honestly. "That was awful to see, and I feel a million times worse for Virg who had to live with it all alone for so long. At least when bad stuff happened to me, I had friends and a professional with a psych degree to help me out."

Morgan drew up alongside him. "I still...I cannot abide the choices he has made regarding you, Chosen One. And I do not want him to make them again. It is as you said — he allows the writings by those long dead who know nothing of this world as it is now to define what he can do, and therefore what he will permit you to do."

"Like dragging me away from Norman under the big spider," Max said. "I know. And I think you're right. It isn't the best way to do things. But, I also think maybe that was the only way left for Virg when he lost everything else. Like, the ultimate coping mechanism. The world fell apart around him, literally, so he latched onto a book of rules to keep him going."

"Perhaps. But it does not atone for his mistakes. His willingness to thrust you into danger. His acceptance of collateral damage in the form of lives. His whole people put Merlin to shame in that."

"But that's my point," Max said. "They're gone. We're here now. And if we keep playing by their rules, we're going to lose something I don't want us to lose. I don't want to…"

He wrapped his arms around himself.

"In Toyama, I had to keep my soul out of Skullmaster's Crystal. He killed people because he thought I would sacrifice myself to save them. And I would, but it wouldn't have saved them anyway. He'd have gotten the power to kill them all and so many more. So they died because I let them."

Morgan tucked an arm over his shoulders and he leaned against her gratefully.

"But there's a difference between me making that choice — the only one I could make — and me saying that they had to die in order to ensure victory. Saying they had to die is like being glad of it. It's like 'the ends justify the means' on steroids. And I can't live like that."

"And you do not."

"And now I need Virgil not to, either. He's got to change his whole mindset. And that's not easy. He's been thinking this way for fifteen thousand years. It kept him sane. But that doesn't mean it's right."

"It is not." Then Morgan gave a tiny smile. "Merlin would have hated you, too."

"Good to know in case I ever meet him," Max said. Then he turned in Morgan's arm and pulled her into a hug.

"Chosen One?"

"I'm not asking you to forgive Merlin because he stuck you in here and that stinks and I'm going to fix it one day, I promise," he said. "But I would really, really like it if you would try to forgive Virgil. It's not his fault he was conditioned to be Lemurian and never realized he had another choice. He never meant to hurt me, Morg. He was trying to be my Teacher the best way he knew how — by being Lemurian."

"Yes, but…"

He tightened his arms around her.

"I'm not saying you have to be buddies. Just...he's not Merlin. He's not even the same Virgil I met the first day I got the Cap. He's changed. Let him change. If you still don't like him, then that's fine. But decide you don't like him because you know him, not because you remember him. Okay?"

"I...for you, Chosen One, I will try."

"Great!" He squeezed her hard. "Now, let's hope he's not mad at me for turning his world on its head."

"If he is, I shall use that as my first reason not to like him again."

Max looked up and grinned — Morgan was kidding. She was actually kidding. And hugging him.

Yep. Maybe there's hope for us all.

-==OOO==-

Norman was trying meditation because he had been starting to wear a trench in the carpet from his constant pacing and he didn't want to face the wrath of the Mighty One's mother when she saw it. Well, at least he was sitting still, with his eyes closed, and he was breathing deeply.

Meditation generally included other things like higher awareness or deep insight, not stewing on worry and intermittent impatience potent enough to choke, so maybe he was doing it wrong.

The very moment the Mighty One's breathing changed, Norman shot to his feet.

It was a good thing, too — Virgil erupted out of the chair like he'd been thrown, and only Norman's reflexes kept him from hitting the ground.

"Virgil! What happened?" Norman steadied his friend, waiting until the fowl could orient himself with his feet down and his head up before he released him.

"He should be coming around any moment," Virgil said.

"Is he okay? Did she hurt him? Is she still…?"

But Max groaned and opened his eyes, sitting up gingerly.

"Ow. Okay, Morg? No more light shows. Whatever that was, it packs a punch."

His eyes went momentarily unfocused as he listened to a reply only he could hear. Then he shook his head.

"How should I know? It's not like there's a how-to of being me, you know. But, since I've never done that before without, you know, latching onto portal energies or end-of-the-world stuff, I don't have a clue."

Virgil sighed. "Another mystery to solve, then."

"Yep, because we needed one," the Mighty One said. Then he turned to Norman. "Hey, big guy. Sorry for scaring you."

"Uh…"

"Morgan says she's sorry, too. She really doesn't hate you as much as she hated Virgil, and she has promised to work on that, so she says she owes you a favor."

Norman looked between Virgil and his boy. "I...have missed something."

"You have missed a lot, Normie," the Mighty One said, "but we'll catch you up. Right, Virg?"

"Right."

Norman raised an eyebrow. Virgil looked downcast, sad in a way he had rarely seen.

"But I have a suggestion," the Mighty One said, climbing out of bed and steadying himself before either of them could reach him. "Or, okay, fine! Morgan has a suggestion."

And apparently this was a thing now, his boy talking to the sorceress in his head.

If Norman hadn't known as much as he did about her, he would have been a lot more upset, actually. He still had concerns, of course. More than a few.

But the boy's smile was his own, honest and true and full of energy and humor and all the light that filled his heart, and that was really all Norman needed for now.

"Let's do this over ice cream."

-==OOO==-

"So, how are you?" Max asked, pulling Virgil aside to the front hall while Norman worked on cleaning up the broken glass in the living room. They would have to replace all the light bulbs before mom got back, because it was one thing to explain he had a fifteen hundred year old girl in his head, and something else to explain he had a fifteen hundred year old girl with a talent for property damage in his head.

They had spent three hours in Max's usual booth at his favorite ice cream shop, catching Norman up on everything and also indulging Morgan's interest in trying tiny samples of every possible flavor. By the end, Norman had eaten five banana splits and three double sundaes, Morgan had decided that fudge cookies and cream was her favorite ice cream, and Max was thinking this was the best post-adventure ritual ever, even considering the topic.

However, while Virgil had added his own parts of the tale, he had been rather quiet otherwise.

"It is...a great deal to take in, Mighty One," Virgil said finally.

Max perched on the bench beside him, trying not to listen to Norman because he needed plausible deniability when Norman broke something else, and swung his legs.

"Tell me about it."

Virgil opened his beak, shut it with a clack, and made a little smile. "I don't need to. You already know."

Max winked. "Exactly."

Virgil sighed. "For what it is worth, I am still sorry, Mighty One. For not telling you. For...for letting all this come to pass. For my part in the tragedy."

"I know," Max said, and he tried to make it sound comforting. "And it's not how either of us would have wanted it to happen, but it did. Even Morgan's sorry, a little, and all we can do now is go forward and do better. Right?"

"I suppose."

Max cleared his throat. "Look. If you...I don't want to put pressure on you. You've considered yourself a Lemurian for fifteen thousand years. If you...if you need to keep that part of your identity, I'm not going to be mad. I just...I wanted to give you the choice."

Virgil nodded. "It is a generosity which I did not even realize I might need, to be honest. There is freedom in allowing the past to truly die and focus only on tomorrow. And...you are correct that there is no one better suited to turning destiny to his advantage than yourself."

Max waited, understanding Virgil had more to say.

"And yet, I am Lemurian. I always will be. But...perhaps there is…"

"Identity is hard, Virg," Max said when his Teacher faltered. His Teacher. How had he never realized it before? "It doesn't have to be all one thing. And it doesn't have to be anything you don't want it to be, either."

"I am Lemurian by birth," Virgil said finally. "It is my species and my heritage. But...perhaps...no. I am sure it does not need to be my future." And the words seemed to hurt to say, even though Virgil sat up a little straighter after saying them.

"Okay," Max said.

"And so...I guess the Eldest was right, as you said. Because of you, Lemuria can at last rest, not a living force, but a memory, a history for us to learn by rather than a map to follow. Because of you, Lemuria can be at peace, her purpose fulfilled."

Max gulped. "I hope to live up to it, Virg."

"Oh, Mighty One," and Virgil's eyes and words were all care and kindness, "you already have."

Max couldn't have helped it if he'd tried. He reached over and pulled Virgil into a hug. I should probably hug Norman, too. Hugs for everybody!

They certainly do help, Morgan said softly.

"So...what do we call you now? If 'Lemurian' isn't quite right anymore?" he asked after a moment.

Virgil stiffened, then shook his head, his eyes filled with too many emotions to name.

"I am Lemurian, and that will do. But, if it makes you uncomfortable, then allow me the privilege of using the designation of what is to be, rather than what has been."

Max raised an eyebrow, and scowled when Morgan cackled in his head, already having guessed whatever Virgil would say and apparently not sharing.

But Virgil smiled.

"Why, it should be perfectly obvious, Mighty One. Norman and I are both, now and forevermore, Kraterians. Those in service of the Krateros, of course."

Max blushed as Norman roared his agreement from the other room and even Morgan was pleased.

Well. At least it's a way forward.

And whatever happens tomorrow, I guess this means we're in it together.