Lies and Lieutenants

He was woken by hands on his shoulders, shaking him, fingers digging into his skin enough to certainly leave a bruise later.

'Merlin. Merlin.'

With a grimace, he opened one eye sleepily. The sight of the Angel knelt beside him as he slept on the hard floor was enough to shock him into being fully awake. 'Kilgarrah?'

'You need to get up, Merlin. Morgana has betrayed you. You have to go. Now. You need to go now; you're all in danger…'

He was cut off as a piercing scream resounded through the walls. Merlin sat up, eyes wide as he glanced around the room at a rapid pace, as if looking for answers. On the other side of the room, he watched Gwaine wake with a start from his sleep on the camp bed. He turned back to the Angel, yet the light sound of a flutter let him know he'd already gone.

'Merlin.' Gwaine was sat up as well now, pushing his hair off his concerned face. 'Who was that? Tell me it wasn't Morgana…'

'Gwen, what did you do? What have you done?' Uther had the girl by her shoulders, desperately trying to be gentle yet every passing second caused his grip to get tighter. 'Where's Morgana?'

'She asked…to go in…to see Morgause. She said…you had told her to.' She sobbed, struggling in Uther's grasp with every tighten of his fingers. At her struggling, he let her go and she seemed to fall into Arthur's arms beside his father. 'Then she locked the door. Arthur, I'm sorry.'

'And you thought that was fine in the middle of the fricking night? And alone? You were on watch, Gwen, we trusted you to both not let her out, or let anyone in when they shouldn't be.' Uther snapped, his face distorted in pure rage, yet Gwen refused to look at him, burying her face in Arthur's chest. Awkwardly, the blonde placed one arm around her, patting her shoulder. His other arm was in an amateur bandage by his side.

'Arthur, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…'

'Gwen, you weren't to know. What else did she say?' He looked over at Gaius behind them, who stood with the other men in the basement outside the room they'd kept the demon in. 'Can we break the door down? Leon, Gwaine, Mordred, come on. We have no idea what's going on in there…'

At that moment, the door flung open, and the dark-haired woman walked out. For a second, just a second, Merlin had thought he'd seen a smirk pass across her pale face but that was impossible, for at the sight of the other hunters, she broke down in tears.

'Morgana?' Arthur stepped forward slowly, pushing Gwen gently towards Merlin, as if he was an adequate replacement for the hunter. But all Arthur's attention was now on the woman before him. 'Morgana, are you alright?'

'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Arthur.' She didn't approach them any further, as if some part of her wanted to retain some dignity unlike Gwen, who was now silently sobbing in Merlin's arms. Morgana turned her gaze to Uther. 'Uther, Sir, I'm so sorry. I don't know what I've done. I don't know…'

'Morgana, you haven't called me 'Sir' in over five years now…' He spoke slowly, hesitantly. Arthur frowned, and then it slowly dawned on him what his father was talking about. The crying, the calling him 'Sir': Arthur silently drew the knife from his pocket, his eyes never leaving Morgana. Behind him, he heard a soft rustle as the Knights also seemed to click to Uther's train of thought and also began drawing whatever weapons they had on their person.

'No, I know. But you needn't be suspicious. I've been wrong; I haven't given you the respect you deserve, Sir. It is thanks to you that we are all still alive. It is your knowledge and your instincts that have protected us all these years. I know this now.'

'How, Morgana?' Uther said softly, his hand reaching slowly to his back pocket, where he'd kept a tiny vial of holy water, yet enough to do some serious damage could he get her to drink it…

'Because I've put us all in danger.'

'What?' Morgana watched, her heart pounding, as all eyes on her widened then narrowed to a glare. Arthur's, seemingly, most of all. 'Morgana, what have you done?'

'I'm. I'm...sorry. So sorry. I never meant for this. For any of this.' She'd only just managed to stop crying, when her eyes began to well up once more. 'After you came out of the room, and you started ranting about what she'd said, I just wanted to talk to her. You and your father were arguing so much, I just wanted to make her pay, I swear. But I knew I'd never be allowed, I'm not interrogation material for demons or whatever, so I snuck down here last night. Don't blame Gwen, I did lie to her, and you can't punish her for believing someone she trusts.'

She stopped speaking, as if waiting for something. After a moment, Arthur sighed and turned to Gwen behind him. 'Ok. Gwen, I'm sorry, I overreacted and upset you. Forgive me. Better?'

'I started questioning the demon, Morgause. I had holy water, I took the demon knife from where you left it in the kitchen, Arthur, I was prepared. But the minute she started talking, I just couldn't handle it. Lie after lie. She knew things, Sir. She said she knew things about my mother's death, about the accident that killed my father. Then she started saying other things, threats and promises and I didn't know what to do.' She seemed to be shaking when she met Uther's icy stare. 'I killed her, Sir. I couldn't help it. The knife seemed to just leave my hand and I just couldn't stop it. I'm sorry.'

'Morgana, I don't see the danger…'

'She said she had soldiers. She was some sort of Hell Lieutenant, I think. She said she had soldiers who would come for us. They know where we are. They'll find us. We can't stay here.'

'We're not leaving my house open for a bunch of son of a bitch demons to attack.'

'Sorry, Gaius, but we have no other choice. Not now.' Uther placed his hands lightly on Morgana's shoulders, the closest he'd ever come to some form of comforting embrace. 'Morgana, where's the body? They can't find the body. We need to burn it and bury it somewhere.'

'It's still in there…'

'Leon, Gwaine, go bury the body.'

'No!' Morgana exclaimed, before clasping a hand to her mouth in shock. At Uther's questioning stare, she said quietly, 'I just mean that I did this, I ought to bury the body. Mordred can help me. We'll get it done just as quickly…'

'What about me?' Arthur asked. 'Can't I help?'

'Not with your arm like that.' Uther frowned once more as he stared at the haphazard bandaging of his son's arm. 'I'm sorry, Gaius, but he needs professional treatment for this at least. Merlin, drive Arthur to the hospital. Stay with him until he's treated. Mordred, help Morgana, be quick about it. Gwaine, go get Percy from upstairs, be careful with him. Then, go with Leon and Gwen. Go find a motel or something. Nowhere close. We do not need a demon attack right now. Gaius, we need to prepare the house. Do you know anything on this 'Hell Army'?'

'Nothing. First I've ever heard the concept. Thought all demons were just after themselves.'

'Yeah, same. Get reading then. We need every little scrap of information we can get.'