Can't sleep so I wrote the next chapter. Major spoilers for I Will Never Forget, in my opinion at least, or maybe they're just minor. Its your decision to risk it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, only my mad OCs and this psychotic storyline.
Hope you enjoy.
My Madness
"Where do we go now?" Arthur asked Jasper and Aida as they looked down the familiar, yet alien, hallway.
"Last time we did this we had help." Jasper explained. "There was a girl with us who said that the walls spoke to her. She said that if you listen close enough you can hear them too and they will tell you the way out."
"I don't hear anything." Arthur listened, but nothing broke the silence around them. They spoke as if these walls were alive, but that wasn't possible, was it?
"I could never hear anything either." Jasper agreed.
"That's because neither of you actually listen. Now be quiet." Aida walked over to one of the walls, placing her ear against the wood. She closed her eyes and listened. "I thought I heard the walls speak to me once back then. It was like they screamed, yelling a warning. That was just before we were caught."
"Why would the walls want to help us?" Arthur still couldn't quite wrap his mind around the idea of walls talking. "This is the Old Mother's house."
"She does have control over it." Jasper nodded. "Maybe last time when it lead us on that adventure to find the way out it was just toying with us, having a little bit of fun."
"Maybe we shouldn't listen to it then." Arthur looked at Aida who still had her ear pressed against the wall.
"Will you both just be quiet for one moment." She glared at them, silencing them both.
"Do you hear anything?" Jasper fidgeted. "I don't want to stay in one place for too long."
"I'm only getting whispers." Aida strained to listen.
"Jasper?" Arthur looked over at the young man, almost a boy.
"What is it?" Jasper answered.
"You called me whole. What does that mean?" The question had been nagging at the back of his mind for a while now.
"You are all there." Jasper tried to explain. "There is blood pumping through your veins and you have a pulse."
"Why would that be strange to you?" Arthur was still confused.
"There aren't many live ones in here." Jasper's shoulders hunched and he looked away. "Most, or maybe all, are dragged in here from the place between places, before we can move on."
"Move on?" Arthur didn't like the way he said that. "I've met one ghost today. You can't be saying…"
"That we're dead?" Jasper looked up, a tragic memory in his eyes. "As far as I know that's why the Old Mother takes people like us, because no one thinks to protect us from harm if we're already dead. People believe that after death nothing can harm us, but she can. The sadistic crone likes to watch us run around our pasts, reliving our painful memories over and over again."
"So why can only you see me when the other people in that room couldn't?" Arthur asked the next question on his mind.
"Because the Old Mother didn't take their souls." Jasper explained. "Only the ones she has taken will be able to see you."
"The other Merlin could see me." Arthur's voice fell. Another version of his friend was trapped here, reliving that terrible war over and over again. He wished there was something he could do to save him, and all the other trapped souls, but he had a dark feeling that there wasn't anything he could do. He couldn't go back, let alone find that room again.
"I'm sorry about your friend." Jasper placed a hand on his shoulder. He had known Merlin when he was very young. He and Aida had discovered the great destiny he would have. They had been willing to wait for the great Emrys and the Once and Future King to free them, but they didn't make it to see that wonderful day. All they could do was hope their brothers and sisters would see it and walk free. Jasper wished he and Aida could see it, but they never would.
"What happened to the others?" Arthur asked. "The first time you tried to escape, you said there were others."
"Yes." Jasper's hand fell from his shoulder, falling limply at his side. "There were five of us all together. Other then Aida and me, there was Will, Kevia, and Freya. Kevia was the one that found our room, taking us with her. We found the others along the way."
"Merlin had a friend named Will." Arthur remembered the boy that had been killed saving his life. A sorcerer. But Arthur tried to push away his hateful thoughts towards magic. In here the line between those with magic and those without seemed to blur. They were all in the same boat here, and they would have to work together to get out.
"Will was a great guy, very protective of his friends." Jasper remembered. "He didn't deserve that kind of fate, none of them did."
"They sound like great people." Arthur tried to comfort the boy. He couldn't be older then seventeen, the same with Aida, far too young.
"They were. We all had our demons, our own deaths that we didn't want to talk about." Jasper fidgeted, thinking of his own. "We really thought we could do it."
"So what happened?" Arthur was afraid to ask.
"We found the door." Jasper almost smiled, but it quickly disappeared. "That's when it all went to hell. The shadows finally caught up with us. We tried to fight back but they overpowered us. We wouldn't have been able to go through the door anyway without the key."
"Were the others taken back to their rooms?" Arthur wondered.
"No." Jasper looked away. "As far as I know they were taken to the Pit. That's where the Old Mother keeps all the troublesome spirits."
"Then why weren't you taken there?"
"In some ways it was a worse fate, not knowing what happened to the others, living with that guilt." Jasper glanced over at Aida. "At least we weren't separated. The Old Mother knew that without the others we weren't much of a threat. Kevia was the instigator, the brains. Will was very defiant and strong willed, it made the Old Mother angry that she couldn't break him so easily. Freya had a kind heart, but she was powerful and dangerous in a fight against the shadows. I think they took pity on us and took us along. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
"I'm sure it wasn't pity." Arthur tried to reassure him. "It sounds like you had quite a team. I'm sorry about what happened to them."
"No need." Jasper tried to smile. "So how were you and Merlin separated?"
"The floor opened under him and he fell through." Arthur shivered at the memory.
"He what?" Aida pulled herself away from the door, looking at Arthur with wide eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, why?" Arthur didn't like the look on her face. "What does that mean?"
"That's what happened to the others. The shadows pulled them through holes in the floor." Aida said quickly. "Merlin's been taken to the Pit. There are dangerous souls down there."
"We have to go there and get him." Arthur said excitedly. He didn't want to wait a moment longer. Who knew what Merlin could be going through down there?
"Not so fast." Jasper put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. "One, we don't know how to get there. Two, we wouldn't know how to get out. And three, that's where the Old Mother's power is darkest."
"I don't care." Arthur insisted. "I won't leave him down there. I know he would do the same for me."
"Maybe there's a way." Aida looked over at Jasper.
"Just not one that we know of." Jasper sighed. "This is hopeless." He waved his arms in the air and froze. They all did as the familiar sound of a door creaking open broke the hallway's haunted silence. The three of them turned to see a door open just a crack. Aida took a step towards it.
"Don't." Jasper caught her arm. "It could be a trap."
"Come on, Jasper." Aida pulled her arm free. "What's life without a little risk?" She turned and headed for the door.
"Well life sort of ended for us a while back." He mumbled under his breath. "Last time you said that we got caught in a forest fire."
"We don't have any other leads." Arthur followed Aida. Jasper sighed and gave in, going after them.
Aida gently opened the door, taking a step inside. Jasper and Arthur following close behind. It was another single room. Arthur looked above his head by instinct, shivering at the memory of the two faced girl. He could still hear her screeching in his head. But this room seemed empty.
"An empty room." Arthur whispered. "Odd."
"There are no empty rooms." Jasper shivered. "There's something here. I think we should leave."
"Agreed." Arthur and Aida said in unison as the three of them turned for the door, but it was already closed.
"It won't open." Aida tried to handle.
"I told you it was a trap." Jasper's eyes darted around the room. "Something's off about this place."
"There!" Arthur pointed to a corner of the room. The others followed his gaze but there was nothing there. They looked at Arthur questioningly.
"I swear there was someone there." Arthur blinked, shaking his head. Maybe this place was playing tricks on his eyes.
"Look at the walls." Aida suddenly gasped. They looked around, seeing scratch marks on the walls and same jagged line over and over again engraved into the wood all around the room. But they hadn't been there a second ago.
"Flickering." Arthur almost didn't hear Aida. She was right. The scratch marks flickered in and out of existence. They would be there one second and the next they would be gone.
"A troubled mind trying not to slip into complete madness." Jasper added, looking around.
"They can't let it go." Arthur ran his hand over the jagged line.
"This is my madness." Arthur span round to see the form in the corner that he had sworn he'd seen but it had disappeared. She was standing there, leaning against the corner of the room, her head tilted to the side, resting against the wall.
It looked like she was made up of black smoke. It swirled around, trying to keep this shape. Her hair was gray smoke and it floated around her head. Slowly she opened her eyes and they were pure white. You couldn't look into them long without starting to see black spots.
"This is my madness." She repeated in a ghostly voice, her eyes wandering over to the strangers that had stumbled into her room.
"What's yours?"
Thanks for reading and please keep REVIEWING!
I feel like my chapters keep getting shorter. Please inspire me with your REVIEWS to write more. All ideas and constructive criticism is welcome but please don't be mean.
I hope you keep following because we're going back to the Pit in the next chapter.
See you next time. Hopefully that will be soon.