There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back
Well tell her that I miss our little talks
"I came in before with some extra blankets. There was a candle but i put it out."
"Are you sure?" Uther asks, staring Gwen down as if the girl could have somehow done this. Merlin watches as the servants clean up the room, trying to make reason of the situation.
"I put it out, i swear," Gwen says, and Uther turns to Arthur as his son starts talking.
"Gwen's been Morgana's servant for years, if she says she put it out, I believe her."
Gwen sends a grateful but sad look Arthur's way as the prince rubs his eyes tiredly. He obviously didn't get any more sleep last night than he has been, and Merlin just wants to hit him in the face and tell him to get a new servant and move on with his life.
"She could have been burnt alive," Uther mutters, looking at the remains of Morgana's bed.
"The lightning struck the castle roof last night, that could have started the fire," Arthur suggests, rubbing his hands together anxiously.
"Possibly," Uther muses absentmindedly.
"What other explanation is there?" Arthur snaps. Merlin rolls his eyes at the prince's moodiness caused by lack of sleep.
"Someone started the fire deliberately," Uther says in a bit of a spiteful tone and Merlin can just feel where the conversation is headed.
Arthur watches his father leave, looking a bit worried, and Gwen bites her lip awkwardly. Merlin follows as Arthur takes off after his father. As he figured, Uther's only reasonable explanation is sorcery. Which, of course, is the reason, Merlin had decided after thinking about it long enough, but it wasn't deliberate nor was it in the intention of harming Morgana in any way, unless it was her plan to be burned alive.
Merlin runs down the hall to the locked room where Michael, Orion and Lander are, but he stops as he hears a conversation coming from one of the rooms between Morgana and Gaius. "You're the only person I've told about my dreams," she says in a shaky tone, the events of the night before obviously coming back to her again. "I know I can trust you, Gaius."
"Of course you can," Gaius says as he rubs his hand along her back.
"I've already told you, though, that I started the fire. You didn't believe me," Morgana looks up at him through teary eyes as Merlin walks into the room to stand beside Gaius.
"Last night was an accident, my child-"
"I am not a child!" She yells at him, and Merlin flinches.
"It had nothing to do with magic, how could it have? I am going to make you something to make you feel better, I promise. You must trust me."
"I was at Morgana's chambers, Gaius," Merlin says, sitting at the desk and watching as the old man goes about his business. "It was magic. You know it was. And more importantly, so does she. She isn't sure what's happening to her and it's tearing her apart."
Gaius continues about making the food for himself, and Merlin jumps to his feet. "Talk to her, Gaius, tell her it'll be okay! Tell her that her powers aren't something to be afraid of!
"But of course you can't do that. You would never do that. Best keep her in the dark, let her go on lighting rooms on fire and telling her they're just the wind!" Merlin says sarcastically, following Gaius around the counter. And then, suddenly, he has an idea. "You can't... But maybe I can. Of course I can! She saw me! If I can just figure out how she saw me, I can help her.
"But, no, Merlin. You can't reveal your secret. Even not when you're bloody dead. Who knows how Arthur would react if he knew there was a dead sorcerer manservant walking around the castle?
"So if not me, who else? In a kingdom of outlawed magic, who still has the bravery to practice it?"
Merlin thinks about this for a moment before a thought strikes him. Michael.
"The Druids, of course! Uther wants them destroyed, and if she were to go there it'd be a sure way to kill her, but who else can? You? You can't help her, Gaius, you're trying to convince her that wind lit her room on fire and that her dreams coming true is just a weird coincidence. You can't and won't do anything for her. I went through the same thing, I know exactly how she's feeling right now. God, if you could hear me now you'd probably have me put in the stocks for a week," Merlin laughs to himself, standing there for a moment longer before turning and taking off back towards Morgana's current room.
He runs into Arthur on the way there but can't be bothered to feel bad for the moping mess of a prince, or to run around him, so he runs straight through Arthur and through the door of Morgana's room. He finds Gwen there, and Morgana asleep, and sighs when he realizes there's nothing he can do until morning.
Until then, he can start looking for ways to get through to her again.
He decides later that night after a short while of debate that it'd be in his best interest to watch Morgana, since Gwen can't be there all the time and Merlin doesn't need to sleep. So he paces across her floor, deep in thought for a way to communicate, when all of a sudden he hears the bed shift and turns to see Morgana sitting up, wide eyes trained on him.
He tilts his head to the side and Morgana starts panting in a fit of panic. "Morgana?" He whispers, and she jumps, a glass vase beside Merlin exploding into pieces and flying out around the room.
"What is going on?!" She yells, staring at him, obviously absolutely terrified.
"You can see me?" He breathes, taking a step towards her and she pushes back against the bed frame.
"Of course I can see you! How are you here, you were killed!"
"I was, I know! How is this possible?" He asks.
"I was thinking the same thing! What magic is this? Is it someone's cruel idea of a joke?"
"No, it's me, it's really me," Merlin says, a grin spreading on his face. He laughs in joy, taking a few steps toward the panicking girl. "I can't believe it. I can't believe it!"
"Merlin? You are dead!" She yells back, and he sighs though the smile remains on his face.
"I know! Not all dead, only half dead," he corrects her, and she gives him a rather confused look. "I'll explain it all later. Short story is that some futuristic American Druid told me that I have to complete a task to pass into another life since I'm still stuck here."
Morgana stares at him, eyes wide and blank. She starts shaking her head quickly and violently. "It's getting worse. Now I'm going crazy!" She yells, jumping out of her bed and running to the door.
"Morgana, wait!" Merlin calls, running up to her and attempting to slam the door closed, but he just falls through it and Morgana runs off down the hallway.
Merlin chases after her all the way down to Gaius' chambers. She storms inside, Merlin following suit, and Gaius sits up from his bed and rubs his eyes.
"Morgana, wait-" Merlin starts, but she spins around with tears streaming down her face.
"Just leave me alone! Get away from me!" She yells at him and Gaius jumps to his feet urgently.
"My lady, what is wrong?"
"He won't go away! He's following me, he won't leave me alone!" Morgana yells, cowering away from Merlin and using Gaius as a shield from him.
"Who?"
"Merlin!"
A look off sadness and confusion and a hint of anger all pass Gaius' face and he turns and grabs her on the shoulder. "Morgana, Merlin is dead. He has been dead for a month."
"I know that! I'm not an idiot!"
"Morgana-" Merlin starts, attempting to reason with her. If she goes nuts, he'll have no way of communicating with anyone else.
"Don't talk to me!" She yells, pulling away from Gaius and pointing her finger at him. "Just leave me alone!"
"Morgana, please!" Merlin begs, and she balls her hands into fists and puts her head in them, letting out a small scream.
"What's the commotion in here?" Michael asks, appearing beside Merlin.
Morgana's head snaps up as she hears his voice and she screams again, putting her head back in her hands. "What's happening, Gaius?!"
"I don't know, Morgana. Calm down, there is nobody here," Gaius says, putting a hand on the girl's back and attempting to coax her out of her hands.
She takes a deep breath and looks up slowly, looking around the room. Merlin takes a step towards her and she doesn't react, just lets out a shaky breath and looks back at Gaius. "I'm going crazy. I'm seeing him everywhere. He's everywhere, Gaius."
"Maybe you just reacted badly to the sleeping drought. No worries, I'll just make you a different one. If it gives you any ill effects, tell me straight away."
Morgana nods absentmindedly, still looking around the room.
"Could she..." Michael starts, and Merlin nods a bit solemnly.
"Yeah. She could."
ok so morgana thinks she's going crazy but she can see merlin so that's big
now don't think this is going to go episode by episode because it isnt so far ive just done the nightmare begins which will take this chapter and the next one i believe, and after that we'll see the lady of the lake
so im completely changing the storyline of the episodes and the show by cutting out things like morgause because obviously morgana isnt evil in this so theres no real reason for morgause to be in it but yeah
idk how many actual episodes i will write but ill mix them in with other things so it wont just be following the storyline of the show so yeah
but here's a new chapter next one shouldn't take more than 2 days
-notreallymagical