As Morgana sat there crying, lamenting the loss of her friend, the friend she never apologized to. The friend she treated so terribly for saving hundreds of lives. Kilgharrah bowed his head, mourning the loss of the last Dragonlord, his last kindred spirit. Kilgharrah delved into his mind. A thought had just occurred to him. He could feel other dragons and Dragonlords in his mind, could feel their spirits and when they moved on. Kilgharrah could still feel Merlins' soul. It was still there, somewhere.
Without so much as a warning, Kilgharrah scooped Morgana up in his claws as gently as he could and flew away. They had little time left. Merlins' soul, searching for the nearest place to inhabit, had trickled into Morganas' mind. It would not stay in there long because at this very second, Morganas' mind was pushing the intruder out, her minds natural defence system was kicking in and before too long, it would be pushed out. Kilgharrah pushed himself to his limits flying as fast as he could over Camelot in broad daylight. Camelot was close, normally he would stop now and let Morgana walk the rest of the way but today is different. He flew into the castle. And stopped right in front of the physicians window and dropped Morgana in.
Morgana was thoroughly shaken up when she landed on the floor of Gaius' chambers. She looked around. Merlin was all alone in the room. She stood there looking at him before walking up to him and sitting down on the chair seated in front of Merlins' bed. She grabbed his hand and used her other hand to stroke his hair.
"I'm so sorry. Merlin I tried I really did. I was there… I was there but Morgause… Must have teleported to me and crushed it! Merlin she crushed your soul out of the crystal and there was nothing I could do." She said, tears running down her face. "Merlin, if you can hear me, even without your soul, you should know that I am so sorry for how I treated you, for betraying you to Morgause. For threatening you, for getting you stung by a serket for everything!" She whispered to him.
"Merlin, I'm so sorry." She cried while planting a very tearful kiss upon his forehead. Merlin shuddered, a wave of energy flowing through his body.
"It's okay Morgana, I forgive you." He croaked out. Morgana let out a shriek and threw her arms around him.
Kilgharrah watched as Morgana cried little golden tears. They were streaming down her face leaving little shimmering tracks on her face. Kilgharrah almost whooped for joy! Merlins' soul was so desperate to escape Morganas' mind that it left in the easiest way possible, through tears. The second the first tear fell on Merlins' face, he stirred. By the time Morgana pressed her tear-covered lips to his forehead, his soul had completely returned to him. Kilgharrah smiled. As he watched the witch and the warlock embraced. Their destinies now more defined than ever. Arthur, the Once and future King destined to bring magic back to Camelot, Guinevere the Once and Future Queen, Merlin, Arthurs' best advisor and court sorcerer, Morgana the heeler and the seer and Arthurs' knights bravest in the land. He saw The darkness un-entwine itself from the light and disintegrate. He felt the whole of Merlins' destiny change for the better and he couldn't be more overjoyed.
He took off into the sky and didn't look back, for he knew that they would be fine.
Merlin blinked foggily. His eyes were crusty as though they hadn't been opened in a long time. Why did they feel like that? Merlin thought back into his mind. He remembered the confrontation with Morgana, Arthur confronting him about it… Oh yeah, he got shot. after that it was all black until about thirty seconds ago when he heard Morgana apologize. What had she been apologizing for? For betraying them? For leaving him with the serkets?
"I thought you were dead but you're here! You're alive!" She was hysterical.
"Morgana, what's going on?" Merlin asked tentatively. Morgana looked at him, opened her mouth to tell him when she promptly passed out. Merlin was alarmed.
"Gaius! Gaius!" He yelled trying to attract attention. Someone came to open the door. Gaius came bursting in.
"Merlin my boy!" He yelled, overjoyed. He ran up to his ward and gave him a hug. "I wasn't sure you'd make it, wasn't sure if I could trust Morgana… But here you are." Gaius had tears in his eyes.
"Um Gaius…" Merlin said and gestured to the unconscious Morgana. Gaius groaned.
Half an hour later found Gaius, Merlin, Arthur, Gwen and the knights of the round table seated around the unconscious Morgana. Everyone wanted to know what happened and only Morgana knew. Merlin was sitting uncomfortably wrapped in a blanket. Ever since he woke up everyone had treated him like he was fragile and needed attending to at all times. He felt perfectly fine. Surprisingly, Gwen and Gaius were the ones treating him the least like a piece of glass. Arthur was the worst, if somebody walked in that was a stranger to Camelot, one would have guessed that Arthur was Merlins' servant, it was quite amusing actually but Merlin was sick of it. If arthur asked him one more time if he was warm enough he would blow his top.
"Merlin, do you need another blanket? Some water?" Arthur asked. Gwen put a restricting hand on Arthurs arm but that had done it. Merlin stood angrily knocking his chair over.
"I have had enough! I am not fragile! I am not some little girl I have been in more battles than any of you put together, I've saved more lives than any of you and I don't even get a thank you! You get all the glory while the one who really did it all gets to do chores! I have had far worse injuries than any of you have. And I cleaned out the stables while they were still fresh. I would sacrifice my life for all of you in a second but nobody knows it. Stop treating me like a girls petticoat!" Merlin took a deep breath then started panting heavily. Everyone looked at him, startled at the normally cheerful boys temper.
"Merlin, we know. We know about everything. Gaius told us, about your magic, about our destiny. Merlin… I want you to know that even though I'm breaking all the laws and I'm betraying my father, I will not tell him. I've had time, quite a lot of time to think about it. After I saw your soul leave you, Gaius thought it fit to tell me and he told me all your stories, Merlin there is something I want to say."
Merlin looked uncomfortable.
"Merlin, you're my best friend, my wisest friend, my first TRUE friend and I owe you mine and many others lives. Merlin, thank you." By the end of Arthurs' speech, Merlin had tears in his eyes. Everyone nodded.
"And we will help you whenever is necessary." Gwen added.
"And we can cover for you, it sure will be helpful to have the prince and knights to vouch for you." Elyan nodded laughing.
Everyones eyes were drawn to the bed when Morgana stirred. All of the sudden she sat bolt upright making everyone jump.
"Merlin, where is he?" She demanded frantically.
"I'm here." Merlin said and grabbed her hand. Morgana visibly relaxed when she saw him.
"Morgana, you did an amazing job. You saved countless lives including Merlins'. You returned to the path of good and triumphed over Morgause. You were extraordinary. All the stress of the past few days, the trauma of thinking you'd lost a friend was enough and then finding out that you hadn't sent you into shock. It was too much for your brain to handle. Now if I'm not quite mistaken, telling us what happened might make it easier to process." Gaius said soothingly. Morgana looked around wide eyed. Did this mean they knew?
Arthur put a hand on his sisters free hand. "Morgana we know. We want to help." Morgana smiled before launching into the story. Everyone was absolutely amazed at Morgana. She had done so much on her own.
After that, they spent the rest of the afternoon exchanging stories of their numerous adventures. Bye the time they had all run out of stories, it was well past dark. Everyone started spilling out of the physicians casting fond looks at the young magic users who had to stay behind to recover.
Morgana looked at Merlin.
"Morgana, I know how you promised to stay on the side of good but I need confirmation." Morgana raised an eyebrow. She looked at him fondly before replying.
"I'll stay on one condition." She said.
"Which is?" Merlin asked.
"Teach me magic, good magic." Morgana said and, stepping onto her tip-toes, planted a kiss on Merlins' cheek and walked to her bed.
Neither of them had noticed that their hands had remained clenched firmly together during the entire exchange.
A/N Will post an epilogue. I hope this answered most of the questions asked previously and also summed up most of the questions in the story.
Let me know what you think, reviews are appreciated and they make my day brighter :)