AN: Hey!

I made, a poll, as to who Lizzie should end up with! I've been leaning towards Arthur, but I'm suddenly thinking about Merlin. I want to hear your opinion!

BTW I'm telling you now, there really isn't a thing with Uther. I'm only saying that to build up character relationship. Kay? Good, glad that's all cleared up.

The Mark of Nimueh! Here we go!

DISCLAIMER: MERLIN ISN'T MINE

Enjoy!

Over the course of the few weeks I'd been here, Camelot had become my home. I had good friends (like Merlin and Gwen) a somewhat sister (though we weren't biologically related I saw Morgana as my sister, at least for now) a kind of father (I still hated Uther with most of my guts, but he did protect me and treated me like a daughter) and a grandfather (I ADORED Gaius) . But like home, things were scary here. Like the person that was sickly white and blue that I saw Gaius and Merlin going over.

My jaw dropped and I ran to Merlin. "What's going on?"

Merlin looked at me and tried to push me back. "Lizzie I don't think you should see this..."

I pushed his arms away. "I really don't care. It can't be that bad." I said, pushing Merlin aside, and kneeling next to the patient. Gaius rolled him over, and the person's eyes were rolled into the back of his head, and blue veins popped out of his skin. I felt sick to my stomach, and buried my face in Merlin's shoulder. "You were right, I shouldn't have looked." When I brought my face back out, it looked like the blush was slowly leaving Merlin's cheek. I decided not to make him feel more embarrassed than he already was.

"You were saying?" Merlin asked, gaping at the body.

"People musn't see this. They'll panic." I got up, grabbed a small blanket, and tossed it to Merlin to put over the body. Looked like the Mark of Nimueh had begun...

I made my way to the markets. Gwen got the pastries from the bakery there once, and I'd been craving them ever since. I bought some for myself, Gwen, and Morgana, and walked back to the castle. On my way back, I saw Gwen. "Ah! Guinevere!" I said, running to catch up with her. She stopped so that I could. I looked down at the two bouquets of flowers in her hands. "Someone sent you flowers. Isn't that sweet?"

She looked down, then blushed. "Oh, no." She handed me one of the bouquets, filled with red and yellow flowers. "These are for you. I picked them."

"Oh, how sweet!" I said, taking the flowers from her. Never, in my life, had I been given flowers as just a gesture. John, my clingy ex-boyfriend, never gave me flowers, once. I took a sniff, and it smelled just like my mother's perfume. My heart sunk at the thought of home. But I didn't miss it as much anymore. I had way too many people to care for me here.

"I know you haven't been sleeping well lately. It was something to cheer you up," She said.

"You know what Gwen? You cheer me up." I looked at the other flowers in her hands.

She looked down at them, and made an 'o' shape with her mouth. "Oh, these are for Morgana. She hasn't been getting much sleep either."

"Well, I know the feeling." I said, hooking my arm through hers. Seriously, I didn't even lose this much sleep in university, and I never ever slept that long.

She looked down at my bag. "Who is that for?" Gwen asked.

"Do you remember those raspberry pastries that you bought a few weeks ago?" I asked her, and she nodded. "Well, I've been craving them for a very long time, so took matters into my own hands. So I went to the bakery and bought some for all of us!"

We passed Gaius's chambers, and I stopped. "I have to see Gaius for my draft."

"Oh, well, would you like me to put your flowers in water?" She asked.

I nodded and handed them to her. "Thank you. They're lovely, really." I knocked on Gaius's door, and he permitted me entrance.

"Liz! Is there something you needed, I was with a patient." He said.

"Yes. I came for my draft." Gaius nodded, and went to retrieve it. I took this as my chance to walk closer to the patient. "Is this the same person from this morning?" I asked.

Merlin nodded. "Yeah. It's nothing that Gaius' has ever seen before, apparently." His head turned to where Gaius was. "Is it some kind of plague?"

"No, I fear something like this could never come from nature." Gaius stated, handing me my draft.

I set it on a table. "Are you suggesting sorcery?" I asked.

Gaius nodded. "But who has this kind of power?"

"Merlin!" Arthur's voice called from outside. Merlin ran to answer the door, but didn't open it too much. "I'm on my way. Sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry. I'm getting used to it." Arthur said flippantly. He looked down at the flower that Gwen must have given him. Merlin looked down to where he was staring. "Oh. Er, Gwen, she gave it to me." Ha! Right on the money!

"Tell Gaius that my father wants to see him now." Arthur said, and he left.

Merlin turned to look at me. "Why does he do that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. He's a bit of a jerk, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh trust me. I've noticed."

"Have you heard of the disease?" I asked Morgana as we sat in her chambers later that day.

She looked at me strangely. "What disease?"

I sighed and sipped from my goblet. Drinks back then (well technically now) weren't bad. I liked it a lot, actually. "There is a disease going around the Kingdom and it's apparently spreading fast."

"Do they know what the cause of it is?" Morgana asked me.

I shook my head. "Not as of yet. But Gaius doesn't think it comes from nature."

Her eyes bugged from her head. "He thinks sorcery is involved."

I shrugged. "It's a disease that Gaius has never seen before. Gaius is a pretty old man. He's most likely seen a lot."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I guess you're right. I hope it doesn't affect many people, and it's not spreading as fast as people are saying."

I nodded, barely listening to what she was saying. I knew what the disease was. I knew what caused it, and I knew how to stop it. Question is, do I do anything to stop it? Even though all those people are affected by Nimueh's spell, I felt like all these deaths were my fault, because I could have done something about it. I certainly couldn't let Gwen's father get the disease, and I couldn't let Gwen get convicted of sorcery. What was a Dimension-Traveller to do?

"Lizzie!" Morgana said, tapping the table. I snapped back into attention. "What?"

She sighed. "Do you have any idea what I just said?"

I scoffed. "Of course I do." I sat up straighter in my chair. "You were talking about people."

She sighed again. "I was talking about the science work that we had been working on."

"Oh, right." I mumbled.

Morgana gently smiled at me. "What's wrong?"

"Wha-? Nothing's wrong." I sayid, rather unconvincingly.

She lifted a finger. "Elizabeth Malinor, don't even try to lie to me!"

"I wasn't lying though!" I said, still unconvincing.

"I always know when you're lying to me, Lizzie. Come on, you can tell me anything. You know that," She said, leaning across the table to squeeze my hand.

I chuckled a little, and squeezed her hand back. "It's my dreams." I said, lying again.

Morgana seemed to believe this one, though. "I know. Mine have been really bad too."

"There's really nothing I can do to stop them." I said.

She nodded. "I understand. I know Gaius is helping us with the draft, it hasn't really been working all that well."

"I know." I said. "We just have to keep hoping." We had to keep hoping that I could make up my damn mind.

I saw Merlin going to the well to get water. Ah! So they figured it out already! Good, I didn't like the guilt that was eating away at my gut.

I ran up to the well. "Hey Merlin." I looked to the bucket. "What's the water for? I would have thought with the disease spreading through it that you wouldn't want to drink it."

Merlin stopped pumping the water. "How did you know that it was spread through water?" he asked suspiciously.

God dammit Lizzie! THIS was why you waited until after a couple scenes! "Uh..." I stuttered. "I'm not a foolish girl, Merlin. If everybody is being affected by the disease, then it has to be something they're all in contact with. Such as water." I said, gesturing to the pump.

"How do you know it's not spread through air? Or food?" he asked.

"We all don't eat the same food and if it's from the air a lot more people would have the disease already." I said. Merlin nodded, accepting my answer, and went back to pumping the water. I blew at my bangs, letting out my worried breath. Oh yeah, I went Sherlock on his ass!

Suddenly, Gwen rushed right past us, tears streaming down her cheeks. We looked back at Gwen. I looked to Merlin. "That can't be good." He shook his head in agreement and we rushed off to follow her.

Merlin and I caught up to Gwen as Gaius explained why he can't cure her father.

"But so far the remedy is far beyond what I can achieve." He explained, which caused more tears to rush down her face. "I'm sorry Gwen." He said, touching her hand.

She sobbed and runned off. "Gwen!" I called after her. I looked back to Merlin, and he nodded for me to go after her. I grabbed him by his neckerchief. "You had better find a cure Merlin." He quickly nodded, and I was running after Gwen.

"Gwen! Gwen!" I called after her. We were halfway back to her house when she stopped for me to catch up with her. I grabbed her in a hug. "It'll be okay, Gwen." I said, rubbing her back.

She clutched at mine. "It won't! It really won't! My father is all I have!" She said, sobbing harder.

"Merlin will find a cure. He and Gaius both will." I said.

She shook her head. "But Gaius said that he doesn't have a remedy."

I rubbed her back again. "Stranger things have happened, Guinevere." Like being sent into a parallel dimension. Except stuff like that really only happened to me.

Gwen was so much more chipper the next morning. She hummed as she helped me into a green dress, she had a skip in her step as she dusted, and she had a swing in her as she moved around. I couldn't help but laugh. "What's put you in such a good mood?"

"My father has been healed!" She said happily.

I literally had to stop my face from falling all the way to the floor. The stupid idiot used magic! After Gaius had told him not to? I had to be happy for Gwen. I truly was, but I was worried for her and Merlin. "That's great! What happened? I thought Gaius didn't have a remedy."

"He didn't take one. He just woke up, and he was fine. You were right, my Lady; stranger things have happened." She picked up the last bit of laundry. "I'm going to Morgana's room, did you need anything my Lady?"

I shook my head. "No. In fact, take the rest of the day off from me."

She shook her head. "Oh no, my Lady, I couldn't..."

I waved her away. "Of course you can. Think of it as a gift for you. You should spend some time with your father."

She nodded, curtsied, and left. As soon as she shut the door, I left to find Merlin. Time to smack some sense into that idiot!

I saw him leave Morgana's chambers, where he probably just talked to Gwen. He didn't see me, which was why he jumped when I grabbed him by the neckerchief. I dragged him into my chambers, which were very close to Morgana's. I pushed him in, and shut and lock the door.

"What?" He asked, as if he did something wrong.

"What were you thinking?! Healing Gwen's father with magic!" I said, dropping my voice to an angry whisper.

"How did you know that?"

"Because if Gaius doesn't have a remedy, and the disease is caused by magic, the one and only Merlin is going to want to use magic to heal him!"

"What harm has it done? Gwen is happy as can be, her father is healed, where's the wrong in this?" He asked, somewhat accusingly.

"Don't you think that in a city of loads of people dying from the same disease, it's rather suspicious if only one man is cured?" I asked.

His face dropped. "Maybe people won't notice."

"'Won't notice'? He's the Blacksmith! People go to him every day! Don't you think they'd notice if he missed one day with an illness, and then go back to working, healthy as a horse?"

"Who knows what'll happen! The main thing is, that Gwen is happy." He said.

I threw my hands up. "Well, you better get ready to explain yourself to Gaius. I hope you do it better than you did me."

"There won't be anything to explain." He said. And with that, he leaves. I groaned and threw my hands up. THE STUPID BOY! Arthur wasn't even that stupid, for Christ's sake!

TBC...

Not that long of a one, but my Dad keeps getting mad at me that I'm not sleeping :(

BUT Part 2 of the Mark of Nimueh should be up tomorrow!

Lizzie's outfit on polyvore!

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