Chapter Seven: Taking a Chance

Sunday Morning

Morgana fell asleep immediately and was only half aware of Merlin coming to bed at some point afterwards. She recalled nothing else until his shout had her instantly awake, worried that she might have inadvertently used magic in her sleep.

But, although the room was intact, Merlin was still asleep next to her, tossing and turning as if he were the one having a nightmare.

"Merlin, wake up," she said, gently shaking him.

"No." He was mumbling at first but soon started to raise his voice. "It can't be true... I hate them. I hate them all!"

She shook him harder, shocked by the uncharacteristic anger in his voice. "Merlin!"

"Freya, No!"

"It's just a dream. You have to wake up." His Gauntlet lights remained steady, despite his distress, but that was almost certainly because he'd set it up that way. He may have a certain amount of control generally, but this seemed to be serious enough to upset that balance. "Merlin!"

This time he did wake, although he appeared confused at first; looking around wildly and obviously highly distressed and disorientated.

"It's me. It's Morgana," she said, moving closer and placing both hands on his face. "You were having a nightmare."

He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes for a moment. "Yeah... sorry."

"Don't be silly. I have to admit that It makes a change. Do you want to talk about it?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps. I need a drink of water first though."

"Of course," she replied, quickly scrambling out of bed to get it for him.

She came back into the bedroom to find him now checking his own Gauntlet. "Is it okay?"

"Thankfully, yes. There's plenty of spare magic in there, which I'll need to disperse that in a bit. " He held out a hand to her. "Water first though."

He took a large gulp of water, went into the bathroom and came back out five minute later, looking a little better. Then he looked at the clock with a loud sigh. "Three a.m. So much for us both being fresh for the morning."

"Talk to me about it whilst we try to get back to sleep," she suggested. "Who's Freya?"

He looked surprised at the question, frowning and shaking his head and, for a moment, Morgana thought he wasn't going to answer. However, once settled back in his usual position in bed, gently holding her wrist, Merlin took a deep breath and answered her question.

"She was my girlfriend," he replied. His voice no more than a whisper. "My childhood sweetheart, I suppose, and she died."

"I'm sorry. You sounded very angry though. What happened?"

He sighed. "She had magic and her family were of Eden," he began. "Although they often travelled around. Once they realised how strong she was, her parents removed her Gauntlet so they could teach her to control her magic but later, when they were captured in front of her, she got frightened and angry and did a lot of damage."

"How old was she?"

"Fifteen. The authorities arrested her too and slapped Purple Gauntlets on the whole family." He set his jaw and closed his eyes and Morgana saw a single tear roll down his cheek. "It killed her. She died screaming; I could hear her... in my head and I was miles away at the time and..." His voice cracked. "There was nothing I could do about it."

Morgana remembered how shocked she'd been on Friday night when Merlin had so casually mentioned the Gauntlet's unacceptable death rate. However, at the time, all she'd thought about was herself, suddenly scared about what her wild settings would do to her. She hadn't even entertained the idea that Merlin might have experienced such a personal loss.

"No wonder you're angry," she said.

He frowned. "I might have been in my dream but I normally try to remain detached..." He held up his wrist. "... for obvious reasons."

"I can't see how you can be," Morgana complained. "Why should you be? How you can be so calm and even work for the company which distributes them?"

"But that's the reason I'm here in the first place, don't you see? I have all this power and that means I can make a difference. That's what Eden thinks, anyway. They believe that's my purpose."

"Purpose?" She scoffed. "Destiny?"

He shrugged. "Something like that."

"Well, I can see now why you're motivated to change things, and I would help you, if I thought for a moment I'd be of any use."

"But you could be," he replied brightly before biting his lip. "I mean... if you wanted to. But I understand it could be a dilemma for you – working with your family as you do."

"I've told them often enough that the system doesn't work and they dismiss me at every turn. Yet you never have, Merlin. You've supported me, listened to me and, most importantly, shown me a way I can be free."

He nodded. "We all carry a prison around our wrists, it's true, and I have always wanted to help as many people as possible."

"And so, what's next?"

"What I did on Thursday was very difficult and not something I can keep repeating. The only way for an escape to be truly affective is if it happens at night when the place is deserted, but that would be even harder in some ways unless..." He winced.

"Unless?" she pushed.

"Unless I had higher security clearance."

"Like I do, you mean?"

"Yes. The current plan is for me to 'borrow' Arthur's, but having you as a willing participant would be much better."

Morgana fell silent for a moment, contemplating. "It sounds interesting. It sounds like something I would like to help with but..."

"I understand. Your loyalty would obviously be to your family."

She laughed. "I was actually going to say that, right now, I'm far too tired to think about such a thing."

"Oh."

"I would like to help though."

"Thank you."

"How are you feeling now?"

"Better. I think I'm ready to go back to sleep now too."

"Good. Goodnight, Merlin."

"Goodnight, Morgana."

~o~0~o~

Morgana blinked her eyes open again, feeling extremely disorientated but remarkably well rested, considering how disturbed her sleep had been.

Merlin was awake already, still lying next to her and still holding her wrist. He smiled at her and she felt her heart skip at the same time as her magic starting to build. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to relax.

"Good morning," he said.

She risked opening her eyes. "Hi. How are you feeling?"

"Tired, obviously, but okay." He smiled at her, a really loving smile which had her heart racing once more. "Thank you again for listening."

Her magic suddenly surged and glanced down at her wrist to see the green lights now flashing furiously. Having him so close was driving her crazy.

Merlin followed her gaze and nodded. "So far, so good."

"Yes." She closed her eyes again, hoping that might settle things down a little.

"So, can you remember how your Gauntlet reacted when we were at the party?" Merlin asked.

"Ah..?" Thursday evening felt like weeks ago now. "I remember it buzzing. Not exactly like it did just then. At the time it felt more like an itch."

Merlin nodded. "That was probably my fault."

"What? Why?"

"I thought that you probably had more magic than your Gauntlet was showing, but didn't know how much you were aware of."

"So, what did you do?"

"I tried to talk to you telepathically."

She frowned. "I remember you saying something about that before but I had other things on my mind at the time."

"I want to try that now. It didn't work before, both because you had no control over your magic and because your Gauntlet was trying to block me."

"Okay then," she said, sitting up in bed. "Give it a go."

This time the itch felt like it was everywhere and that was followed by a strange buzz which made her convinced that a couple of insects were burrowing in her ears. She sat up and shook her head, flicking at her ears with her fingers as if that were true and she could somehow dislodge the imaginary creatures.

"Try to relax," Merlin said, out loud. He too was also sitting up, now leaning in close with his gaze firmly on her.

"What do I need to do?" she asked. "How do I make it stop?"

"I'll try and focus through your Gauntlet this time," he said. "You do the same. Just think of it as the marble lesson in reverse."

"Ah, right."

The buzzing had returned but, this time, Morgana attempted to focus on her Gauntlet and it wasn't long before the uncomfortable sound began to turn into something resembling a whisper.

"I remember," she said then. "I did think at one point that someone was whispering."

Merlin didn't answer though, still focusing, and so she closed her eyes and concentrated again.

"... hear me?"

She snapped her eyes open.

"Yes!"

"Try to..."

She shook her head, still struggling to latch onto his silent voice.

"Try to talk to me in the same way."

She focused on his words and her Gauntlet and attempted to reply. "Hello?"

"Good." This time there seemed to be no delay, with Merlin's silent voice now sounding much clearer. "We should practice this too. Although I think everything will start becoming easier for you now."

"But, this is amazing!"

He gave her the most beautiful smile and she felt her magic surge again as well as experiencing other sensations. Bother. Why did he keep doing this to her? She moved towards him without really thinking about it, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately and, yet again, he responded whole heartedly.

Her Gauntlet buzzed angrily.

"It's just not fair!" she shouted as she pulled away.

"No," Merlin replied, breathing heavily. "I agree. This is driving me crazy too." He grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards him. "Bathroom?"

Her eyes widened in surprise for a moment as she fully understood what he was suggesting, and quickly scrambled out of bed after him. "Bathroom," she agreed.

Their clothes and Gauntlets were removed with such haste that Morgana barely had time to register it. Only when they were in the bathroom and Merlin was rushing around to switch on all the taps was she finally able to admire his naked body.

"Stop staring and come here," he said, moving towards her. She put her hands up to his chest to slow him down, quite determined to enjoy the view. "What? What's there to see? I'm just a skinny... nothing."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I wouldn't say that."

"But you..." Now he was the one staring. "You are beautiful." And he moved forwards and kissed her. Morgana gasped at the feel of her magic responding to the sensation of his naked skin against hers.

"The water..." Merlin gasped. "Remember to focus on the water."

"Not easy to focus on anything right now."

"I know, I understand, but please try not to aim it at me."

He pushed her up against the wall then, his hands exploring her body and his lips kissing her neck and it sent marvellous shivers up and down her body which she knew had very little to do with their magic.

"Now why did you never think of having a comfy bed in your bathroom?" she asked as the water started to swirl around them.

He chuckled, still nuzzling her neck, before lifting one of her legs up to wrap around his hip. "Don't need a bed," he mumbled.

"You can't be serious... aah."

"I don't know," he continued as he pushed up against her. "Will this work, do you think?"

She gasped as what felt like six hands started exploring different parts of her body. "Are you... using magic on me?"

"Trying not to, but there's just so much spare floating around right now."

"Can our magic be contained?" she asked.

"No idea," he replied. "Hopefully all this water will be enough, but I'm not sure I can stop now, anyway."

"No."

Despite that declaration, Merlin did manage to pull briefly away, but only to grab a condom and throw a few towels from the cupboard onto the floor. Then he knelt down on them and held his hands out to her, silently asking her to join him. They were already soaking wet by the time she had knelt down, but at least they would provided some cushion between their bodies and the tiled floor.

Not that Morgana was really aware of any discomfort right now, even as Merlin pushed her quite roughly onto the wet towels and water drops continued to spin around the room. Then again, he was kissing her in so many places it was hard to tell and, in addition, she had no idea which sensations were actually being produced by him and which was the magic.

"This is so unfair," she said, gasping as another wave of magically induced euphoria engulfed her. "Why are you not focusing on the water too?"

"I am," he whispered hoarsely. "But you have to trust me, this is the best way to manage all of our magic together."

The drops of water, which had simply been swirling around the room randomly, now started to gather themselves up into an impressive waterspout and began to whirl around the bathroom.

"Just the water," Merlin gasped as Morgana obviously aimed some of her magic at him.

"How?" she asked. "When you're here and... doing these things to me I just... can't." It was now more like ten hands, she decided. And about six pairs of lips. "I'm so close..."

"Good."

She had to admit that she'd not given much thought to the act itself. She had planned to have sex well before this, and had even made a fairly impressive start in her teenage years, but her magic had soon put a stop to that. And she had no idea if Merlin had or not... her opinion on that kept changing every time he quickly changed from the shy, nervous and embarrassed boy, to the confident teacher and sorcerer. Morgana had already seen both sides of him here in the bathroom this morning and was still none the wiser. He did appear to know what he was doing, but then with so much magic involved, it wasn't that easy to tell.

However, right now, any awkwardness or discomfort was completely over-ridden by the huge burst of magic Merlin pushed into her at exactly the same time as he entered her.

The waterspout exploded into a thousand, gold-tinged droplets very soon afterwards.

~o~0~o~