I wasn't sure about this chapter at first but I think I like where it's gone now.
This chapter is very much connected with my story Always. Just thought you'd like to know.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, only my OCs and this storyline.
Hope you enjoy.
Lifelines
The smoke creature swayed in a nonexistent wind in front of Arthur and the others. Her grin was unnaturally wide as she looked upon these visitors. The creatures gray smoky hair wrapped around her head like tendrils. Our three heroes backed away. None of them had ever seen anything like her before. Her pure white eyes seemed to stare into their souls, seeing their very lifelines.
"Ask." Her ghostly voice whispered in the dark. The sound bounced around the room, slowly fading away.
"Ask what?" Arthur asked.
"You know what." She winked. "Ask the question you all are wondering."
"What are you?" Arthur found himself voicing the question.
"I've been called Atropos before." She tapped her temple. "There were three of us once, and they called us the Fates."
"You cannot be the same one." Arthur spoke for the three of them. "They were just a myth. A bedtime story."
"I like stories." The creature sighed. "In an alternate version of your world we did still exist." She gestured at Arthur, her eyes growing sad. "But I lost my sisters." She wrapped her misty arms around herself and turned away, floating back towards one of the walls where a crack had been cut into the wall.
"I'm sorry." Arthur took a step forward. "I had a sister too once."
"You still do." She spoke with her back turned to them. "Even if you don't see her that way. I feel empty without my sisters." She ran one of her crooked fingers across the crack in the wall. "I want them back." She clenched her fist.
"Where are they?" Arthur was almost afraid to ask.
"Pulled through the crack." Atropos' voice grew cold and dark. "They sacrificed themselves for your world, to save you from our mother, dragging her down to Tartarus. I had already been locked away. I wasn't there." It almost sounded like she was crying, but there were so tears in her eyes. A dark mist seemed to swirl around in her pure white eyes. "I should have been there, always with my sisters. It should have always been the three of us."
Arthur and the others took a step away from the creature. She scratched her claw like hands over the wall, pealing away the wood. Atropos grabbed at the jagged line as if trying to open it. She seethed and shrieked.
"It must be opened." She cried. "We must get through to them, before they are lost forever." The sad creature crumpled against the wall, shaking.
"I didn't mean to upset you." Arthur walked towards her, ignoring Jasper's hand on his arm, warning him to stay away. He reached down to her. She had gone very still. Arthur wasn't sure what to do. This creature seemed so tormented and alone, crying out for her sisters. It was like she had lost a part of herself.
"Such a sweet boy." She flinched, causing Arthur to stumble back. "I don't think I've ever properly met a boy like you. Then again, I haven't met many people." She rose up off the ground, her dark smoke swirling, trying to stay in the same form. "Who people were didn't used to matter to me. That was more of my sister's area, Clotho. The weaver of the life thread."
"I don't think I've met anyone like you either." Arthur tried to put on a smile, finding it hard in this dark creature's presence. "So you and your sisters deal with the path of life?"
"We do." Atropos looked at him questioningly. "You have another question on your mind. There's no need to avoid it. I like questions."
"We are trying to find the door out of here." Arthur told her, even though his senses were screaming for him to keep his mouth shut. "But we don't know where it is and we need the key."
"An interesting request." Her eyes glistened, her previous despair vanishing. "But why would you want to go through the door?"
"We don't belong here." Arthur stated.
"No one does." She shook her head. "Especially not one who is still whole. I can't recall cutting your particular life thread." A pair of rusty scissors seemed to appear out of nowhere. Atropos spun them around with her crooked finger. "You have a noble heart, Arthur Pendragon. Isn't there something your missing?"
"How did you know my name?" Arthur couldn't remember telling her.
"I watched my sister weave your life thread." She was still looking at him expectantly, still waiting for him to answer her question.
"What have I missed?" He couldn't think of what she meant.
"Wouldn't it be better to save them all?" She inquired, tilting her head to the side.
"Is that possible?"
"Defeating the Old Mother has been done before." She looked around and lowered her voice as if someone else might be listening in on the conversation. "Before this she had been asleep for a very long time, but they couldn't trap her there forever. She's woken up."
"Can we put her to sleep again?" Hope rose inside Arthur.
"She will not be defeated by the same trick twice." Atropos warned him. "You'll need something extra this time. There are things that you will need."
"What things?" Arthur was eager. Atropos glided through the air towards him and whispered it in his ear. He opened his mouth to speak but she quickly put her cold fingers against his lips.
"Do not say it aloud. Not here." Her eyes were wide and wary.
"How do we find these things?" Arthur pushed for more information.
"I'm afraid I will be little help for your journey towards the end my dear." Her body swayed in the wind. "I'm only good with endings my dear. I know what you'll need for that ending to happen, but what happens from now until then is a mystery even to me. Clotho and Lachesis would now. I'm sorry." Her voice was ghostly almost like the voice didn't really belong to her. It hadn't been hers for a very long time.
"I'm sure we can figure it out." Arthur tried to assure her, bringing a sad smile to her swirling face. Her eyes softened.
"I am surrounded by my work." Atropos sighed, spinning the scissors on her finger. "It was always my job to cut the life thread when it was time. I am always there at the end. Your friends are very quiet." She looked past Arthur to Aida and Jasper, but they would not meet her gaze. "We've met before, not in person of course. Ever so sorry that your stories were so short, but you were needed here." Aida and Jasper remained silent, shuffling their feet.
"You have another question." Atropos looked back to Arthur. "I can always tell."
"Why did the Old Mother lure us here?" Arthur didn't bother trying to hide his curiosity.
"Hmm. You have quite an important destiny." Atropos hummed for a moment and then continued. "And an even more important death. I should know."
"I don't understand." Arthur knew that he would one day become king in his father's place, but he knew little of the importance of his taking the crown.
"You are a very interesting case. In all of the versions of your own world your death remains mostly the same." Atropos explained. "You are destined to die in one place and one place alone. Nowhere else will do, unlike your friend. The odd one."
"Do you mean Merlin?" Arthur could not deny him being odd, but he wondered why this Fate would be mentioning his servant.
"Yes, the loyal servant boy." Atropos nodded and went on. "You have one death that cannot be changed. In his case there are many different roads he can take to the many different possible ends. I shouldn't say anymore."
"So the Old Mother finds me interesting." Arthur tried to sum it all up.
"Yes, you could say that. The ones who put her into the sleep take destiny very seriously. The Old Mother wishes to spite them by taking you and trying to defy destiny." Atropos told him. "She was never one for rules."
"I see." The situation seemed a lot bigger then he originally realized.
"Oh, I've frightened you haven't I." Her eyes looked apologetic. "I may only know the ending but I can tell you that you will need your servant there with you. I can only guess your road from here." She waved her dark hand through the air, conjuring a small metal man out of nowhere. "Oh, sorry wrong thing. Just another memory." She waved her hand through the metal man and he disappeared, replaced by a small marble with playful swirling colours. "Take this."
Arthur reached up to take it but Atropos drew it out of his reach quickly. She had a sly grin on her face.
"Before you take it I will need something in return for this generous gift and the information I have given you." Atropos' eyes sparkled. "I am a Fate after all. I can't just give things away for free."
"What is it that you want?" Arthur asked warily.
"Just a simple promise." She grinned as if the price would be nothing of consequence.
"What must I promise you?" Arthur felt like the Fate was playing games with him.
"A favor." Atropos revealed. "When the time comes I will ask you for a favor. You have to promise to grant this favor whatever it may be. Can you do that?"
Arthur had to think about it for a moment. The favor could be anything. Was it worth the risk to trust this creature? They needed all the help they could get in this fight. He just hoped that this one transaction would be worth it in the end.
"Well?" Atropos swayed back and forth, waiting.
"It's a deal." He nodded, offering her his hand. "I promise."
"Excellent." Atropos did not shake his hand, instead she offered him the marble.
He reached up and delicately took the marble, as if at any moment it might shatter. It looked so fragile. As soon as it touched his skin a small shock ran through his fingers. There was definitely something more to this little sphere then its swirling colours.
"What is it?" Arthur inspected the strange sphere, wondering what he had in fact bargained for.
"Find the soul that this belongs to." Atropos instructed, her voice growing very serious. "She will be able to help you on your way."
"How will we find her?" There were so many rooms in this house that it seemed an impossible task to find a specific one.
"Have faith." Atropos smirked. "Trust in your destiny. Good luck." She pointed to a door that suddenly appeared in the wall opposite the original door they had come through.
"Thank you." Aida and Jasper whispered at the same time. The three of them made their way towards the door. Jasper turned the handle and it opened. Arthur looked back one last time, knowing he should leave before she had another of her dramatic mood swings.
"Thank you, fated sister." Arthur nodded in her direction as a sign of respect.
"Not even that…anymore." She lowered her eyes and turned away as the door closed behind our heroes. "Maybe I will see you again, before the end. I do so love endings."
Thanks for reading and please if you be ever so kind to REVIEW! They are a writer's life force so please help me keep going with your comments and questions if you have any. Suggestions are also very welcome.
The three Fates are from Greek mythology. There is Clotho (she spun the thread of life), Lachesis (she measured the thread of life), and Atropos (she cut the thread of life). Tartarus is sort of an abyss or prison that is below the underworld. Read my story Always for more on what happened to Atropos' sisters.
So, what soul do you think the marble belongs to?
Probably won't return to Merlin and Will for a few chapters. Any suggestions for how they escape?
Hope you keep following because their next door leads somewhere very interesting, and unexpected.
See you all next time.