Vivi didn't stop to wonder at the fact that she could still see the stars after passing through a hillside. She was running out of time. Squire was running out of time. She hurried up to the lake. She'd been very disoriented after Callie healed her, so it looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place all the details. She peered around the edges of the lake. Several large trees grew nearby, some even bent over and trailing branches in the water. Merlin could be any one of them.

"Okay think." She stood at the edge of the water, scowling at the trees. "I'm Merlin, and I'm turning into a tree." She paused. "No good, he could have magicked himself across the other side if he wanted, probably. Okay Vivi, you have thirty seconds to figure out which tree. Or at least how to figure out which tree." She crossed her arms, staring hard at the nearest willow.

A breeze wound through the branches of the trees, the leaves rustling softly.

Vivi snapped her fingers, lighting up. "Of course!" She walked up to the nearest tree and placed her hands against the bark, closing her eyes. She focused on the life in the tree, tugging gently on it, draining just a tiny bit. It felt no different than draining energy from her surroundings earlier, so she moved on. Inari Okami's trees had been charged with high-energy magic. If a human had really changed into a tree, the magic she absorbed would have a different feel.

She hurried to the next tree, and the next, and the next. With each tree she grew more frustrated. She didn't have time to circle the whole lake. It had already been ten minutes since she entered. She was wasting Squire's time!

Her fingers curled into the palms of her hands as she stormed to the next tree. It was her fault. She should have just let him heal on his own. Callie was right, Vivi wasn't a healer, she'd just hoped she could pull it off and went along blindly poking her nose into an area of magic she'd never been prepared for. Squire wasn't going to suffer for her mistake, not if she could help it. She slammed her hands against the trunk of the tree, her fingertips sinking slightly into the bark. "Come ON, which one of you is Merlin?"

"One is different."

Vivi spun on her heel, eyes darting around. "Okay that's the second time, WHO ARE YOU?"

But no one answered, and no one appeared. Frowning, she inspected the trees again. Most of them were willows, poplars, or cottonwoods. She squinted, looking for anything out of the ordinary-there.

A single oak tree grew at the edge of the lake. She rushed over, and the second she touched the wood she knew. The energy wasn't the steady, slogging growth of a tree. It was crackling and alive and beating itself against every cell of its prison.

She couldn't screw this up, but no one had taught her how to transform a tree into a human.

"Merlin? Can you hear me?"

The energy sparked blue at her fingertips. He was there.

"I don't know what to do. I found you, but I don't know how to get you out. Do you know?"

Her hands sank into the trunk. She jerked back, but she stuck fast. Her skin darkened, hardening and splitting into patterned ridges that spread up her arms.

No! This isn't supposed to happen!

She tried to call fire to her hands, but felt even that magic draining out of her. The oak before her shrank, shedding leaves and branches and large sections of its trunk. Vivi couldn't move. Her vision blurred, but she thought she saw a humanish figure lying on the ground. Her mouth refused to work, and she was having trouble remembering why it was so important for her to talk to this figure.

The figure crawled toward her, and she watched with detached fascination as it laid hands on her roots. Roots, she had always had these, hadn't she? A frantic, gutteral chant rose from the figure.

Those weren't roots. Those were feet. Feet with toes, feet attached to ankles and legs. Those legs buckled, sending her sprawling to the grass. Thick, blockish fingers pulled back her eyelids as a concerned face peered down at her. His-it was a he, right? Her thoughts hadn't caught up with her-mouth was moving, but the sound was delayed. Had her hearing been scrambled too?

"Can you hear me? Are you well? Say anything!"

There, it synched finally. And details began to fall into place. He matched the visual from Callie's projection perfectly, down to the red hair and the birthmark across his face, though the color had faded some from his hair and his face bore more lines than before.

"What was that for?" She croaked. "I came to get you!"

He exhaled a breath and wrapped an arm around her, easing her into a sitting position. "And you have my gratitude, but you seem to have no experience, and in order to dissolve the spell I had to be free of it first. Transference is simple enough, even as a tree. Apologies madam, and once again, you have my gratitude."

"Save it." She shook her head. "You're Merlin, right?" At his nod, she raised her arm, pointing back to the entrance sluggishly. "Need to save Arthur, he's in danger."

Merlin paused. "The orange-haired lad that came for Callie?" At Vivi's nod, he focused his attention on the entrance. Slowly he returned his gaze to Vivi. "Who are you, that you can come in here? Callie sealed us off, only the King's descendants could pass."

"It doesn't matter! You have to help Squire, he's dying!"

Merlin gripped her arms sternly. "It absolutely matters. At this moment I can only sense one living heir to King Arthur's legacy, and I need to know if that is you."

For one moment, Viv felt like the ground had opened under her, sending her careening into a black hole that would never end. In the next moment she was on her feet, racing back toward the opening. She tripped over a branch, hitting the ground hard, but then she was back up.

"Squire!" She screamed. "SQUIRE!" Don't you dare…

She burst out of the tunnel, tripping over Mystery's tails and skinning her forearms on her landing. She flipped over, taking in the sight of Mystery's gigantic head resting on Arthur's lap. Arthur's eyes were shut, his head bowed.

"Squire?" Her voice trembled as she crawled toward him. "Squire, say something."

Arthur's head lifted, and his eyes opened. She nearly wept at the sight of those soft brown eyes. She wasn't too late. Merlin was wrong, there was still time! "Squire, you had me so scared. Don't worry, I found Merlin, we'll fix this whole-"

"Vivi."

The words died in her throat. That was not the way Arthur said her name. It was the way Lewis said her name, with the utmost tenderness and undercurrents of adoration. It was Arthur's voice, but it was not Arthur speaking to her.

"I'm sorry, Vivi." Lewis cradled his mechanical arm gingerly. "I'm so sorry."

Viv's chest constricted. "No… no, I found him, Lew, I found Merlin. He's going to fix it, he's going to make it better. He can't… I… I wasn't even here!" She couldn't see straight, everything was blurry and dripping. "He was there for me, he was there when that witch pushed me out and tore me up, and so were you, but I wasn't here for him." Her face was wet, and Arthur's hands were on her face, but she felt sick. "I wasn't here!" She clung to him, sobbing as he tucked her head under his chin, cradling her.

"It didn't hurt." Lewis whispered, winding his fingers in her hair. "He passed on. Inari Okami can't hurt him anymore, nothing can."

"Son of Uther-Arthur King dead dead gone."

Vivi opened her eyes, wiping them clear of tears. Callie hung from a tree branch, her tail curled tightly around the wood as her arms twined and untwined. She wasn't looking at Vivi, Lewis, or even Mystery. Instead, she addressed Merlin, who stood before her, silent.

"Dead-and-gone, dead-and-gone. Merlin fail. Callie fail. Stupid dog fail. All is dead-and-gone." She wept and laughed, mocking him. "All magics fail, all humans fail. Demons fail, and I know why demons is demons. What is ravagings, what is slaughter, Nimue asks?" She plopped to the ground like rotting fruit, rolling around and around. "Nimue never knows, Callie knows. Look, Excalibur fails too. What do you think, Merlin?" Her voice pitched. "What you think of pretty pretty Callie?"

Merlin took a knee, slowly, steadying himself with his hands on the ground. He reached one hand out to her, but she lashed out, slicing him across the palm. "SIRE King's heir says no hurt Lewis or stupid dog, NOT you," she warned darkly.

Blood dripped from Merlin's hand, but still he stretched it forward.

"You lose fingers!" Callie threatened, lifting her arms to strike.

Merlin lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Callie and holding her close. She stiffened, then railed, squirming as she cried, "Not like this, not like this no Merlin goes away now! Merlin goes away GO AWAY DON'T TOUCH ME oh gods don't touch me it hurts…"

Merlin embraced the distraught water spirit, rocking slowly. "I am sorry. I am so sorry."

Mystery finally rose, padding over and nudging Merlin with a paw. Merlin raised a tear-streaked face to the kitsune, who bent his forelegs and lowered his head reverently.

"Merlin, Arthur came here in the hopes we could find you and cleanse her." His ears drooped. "It was his final wish."

Merlin studied Mystery, his gaze travelling to the kitsune's seven tails and back to his forlorn expression. "Much has changed." He rose to his feet, still holding the weeping water spirit. "And so, perhaps there is still hope. Come." He ran back to the hill, pulling a fist back and slamming it into the stone. Ripples spread from the point of contact, and the mound vanished as the spell disintegrated. "You are all welcome here, I need your help, and time is short." He made for the lake, muttering, "They are very unhappy that my sentence has been circumvented."