I just really like this whole scene here I don't know why. One of those famous Gaius to Merlin conversations that are deep and meaningful.

Leave your thoughts! Do you like this as much as I do? :)

The older man attempted to keep his hand steady over the potion; just one drop needed to go in -

"Gaius!"

He dropped the small vial into the mixture, gritted his teeth and shot a frustrated look to the young boy, who was biting his bottom lip.

"Is that the sleeping draught?" Merlin asked.

"It was."

"Sorry."

"I'm assuming this is important."

The boy's shoulders heaved in a sigh, and he slowly approached Gaius' workbench.

"If I tell you, do you promise to keep it secret?"

"That depends on what it is."

"No, Gaius, I need your word that you won't tell."

"You have my word, Merlin."

He heaved another sigh; this wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.

"Out with it," Gaius pushed.

"Do you remember Analise?"

"Yes, of course I do."

"She's Lady Arian."

Gaius was silent, staring at Merlin with disbelief.

"I know this sounds crazy Gaius, but you have to believe me. I know she is."

"And how could you possibly know?"

He couldn't honestly answer that question without revealing his secrets; when Gaius had taken Analise, a wanderer from an outside village, into his care those years ago, he made Merlin promise something, promise he wouldn't involve himself romantically with her. He'd broken that promise within six months, and Gaius never discovered anything amiss.

Then, once Analise's magic no longer remained secret, and she was awaiting her death, Merlin made Gaius another promise: he wouldn't meddle in the matter and attempt to help her escape.

That promise he had, obviously, broken as well.

"I just know."

"Why is this pertinent information?"

"She's been possessed by Nimueh."

"Merlin, Nimueh is dead."

"You know as well as I that spirits of the dead have a habit of roaming around the earth as we do. Her spirit is alive; I saw it in my dream."

"You're basing all this on a dream?"

"It's wasn't just a dream! It felt real, Gaius, it was real! Do you want to know what else I saw? I saw Camelot in ruins; I saw innocent people dead, and all of Nimueh's doing. I wasn't dreaming it. I was living it."

Gaius tapped his fingers on the workbench, seeming to consider seriously what Merlin had revealed to him.

"Please. I want to help her. I don't want Nimueh in control of her and I don't want to see Camelot destroyed," Merlin pleaded.

"If there's truth in your statement, Analise is likely using her abilities to call out to you for help."

"If she's possessed, how could she do that?"

"Analise has very powerful magic. It's possible that she was able to keep Nimueh's influence at bay while she projected those images in your mind."

"Okay, so how am I supposed to help her?"

"You'd have to drive Nimueh's spirit out of Analise's body."

"How, Gaius? I need to know how."

"I'd like to help, but there's very little I know about spirits possessing a living body."

"What do you know?"

Gaius shook his head, "I could tell you, but you aren't going to like the answer."

"What is it?"

"I know of two ways that a spirit can be driven from a body: if the spirit achieves what's preventing them from resting -"

"The destruction of Camelot. Not going to happen. And the last?"

"The second way to prevent it from reentering a living body is to kill -"

"No."

"I said you weren't going to like it."

"I can't kill Analise. Not only will I get thrown in jail and possibly executed because everyone thinks she's a noblewoman, I..." Merlin's voice trailed away, and he dropped his gaze to the floor.

"What?"

"I thought I had a second reason."

"You seem as if you have an awful lot to hide, Merlin."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

It made Merlin sick to his stomach to lie directly to Gaius' face, and the look the young man was receiving made that nauseousness all the much worse.

"Alright," Gaius said, cleaning up some broken glass, "go find a way to help Analise."

As Merlin grabbed his jacket again to head back outside, Gaius stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"And do be careful."