Morgana was back in the present with Merlin still hanging from the ceiling.
She remembered his whispers, the words "I should have told you" and told herself that they no longer mattered now that they were enemies.
But the words didn't let go. What was his secret? Was it a feeling? An emotion? An event? There was a tiny speck of hope in her heart that it was stronger than his hatred towards her. Would it have survived the passing of time?
Again she looked at the manservant in wonder. How many opportunities to kill her had passed him by? He poisoned her, and that hurt, but ever since then he seemed incapable of harming her. She would find out his secret now that she knew the question. But even if he proved her right, would it be enough to end their pain and bring it down upon others? He was viciously loyal to Arthur and it would a challenge to compete with their bond.
A clear mind, she needed a clear mind and left her hovel for a moment of rest.
The past had been chaotic at best. There was a conflict in her heart but she reasoned that it all boiled down to 'ignorance is bliss'. Still, there was a grain of truth in it that not even she could deny. Tom, the Ghost of Christmas past, spoke of forgiveness towards others and she could see some wisdom in it. If Merlin were at her side when she conquered Camelot, she might be able to forgive him.
If his heart was hers then the promise of forgiveness and more would be all the persuasion needed.
Her mind set, she went back to her hovel only to find her prisoner in the company of someone else and a woman no less. The first thing Morgana saw of her was her long, black hair and the long dark-green cloak she wore. The attire befitted a druid, not someone the witch would strike without thought.
"You've got some nerve." Morgana voiced her obvious displeasure.
The woman turned around without fear or fright. This was odd since not even the druids thought themselves safe around her. To them she was known as the darker side of magic and not one to be trifled with.
"Who are you?" Morgana asked curiously.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present." Although initially neutral towards the girl, Morgana now found herself loathing this ghost of Christmas.
"Don't suppose you have a name." The witch scoffed.
"Freya." She replied softly but firmly.
"Are you going to pester me with more visions?" Morgana couldn't help but try and antagonize the spirit.
Freya, however, was not without wit either. "Is this a vision?" She said, pointing at Merlin.
Morgana seemed to ignore the remark and opened up one of her spell books. Surely there would be something to get rid of these terribly annoying spirits.
"All he ever does is protect." Freya vigorously defended the manservant's actions where the other ghosts did not.
"And poison." Morgana added and smiled at Freya's frown.
The ghost took a deep breath. She would not let herself be pulled down to the ravings of the mad witch. Even the dead sigh. Morgana thought much to her own amusement.
"You were friends." Freya stated somewhat sadly and the witch began to suspect that was her goal, to guilt her.
Morgana did not plan on making it that easy. "That's what I thought." Morgana spat bitterly.
Of course Morgana would play the woman scorned but she seemed to be forgetting something. Despite being the Ghost of Christmas past Freya still had the power to look into the past.
"But you lied to him when you said you trusted him." The Ghost reminded her.
"No, HE betrayed ME!" The witch shouted, clinging onto the ground upon which she had condemned him.
This was what Freya had been waiting for, making her angry and actually wanting to cloud her judgment.
"Then what would you call your meetings with Morgause and your plots to kill Uther?" Freya asked sweetly.
"He didn't know about them." Morgana replied instantly but the thought lingered.
He always foiled her plans. The undead army, Elyan's capture, her reign as Queen, the Fommoroh and Alator. He always knew when something was wrong or out of place. He saved Arthur from many dangers and some of those things seemed impossible to be known to him. Right from the start he exposed Knight Valiant's magic, Bayard's poisoned chalice, the Troll that was Lady Catrina, the Witchfinder scheme and so many more. All the things he had put a stop to and there had to be more she had no know of.
What if he knew about Morgause's plot? "Did he?" Morgana asked unsure.
Freya closed the door and opened it again to reveal a room within Camelot.
"I want to show you something." Freya said.
Morgana hesitated. Earlier she told herself that she wouldn't listen to the ghost but now she found herself wanting to know what was on the other side. Tom had merely shown her the pain of what she had lost. This time was different. Freya had illuminated part of the path that led to Merlin's motives for poisoning her. It wasn't an extended memory like what Tom had given her but truth. Morgana wanted to know the truth and stepped through the doorway.
Immediately Morgana regretted entering the room for it was 'King' Arthur's bedroom. The man in question sat at his desk doing nothing but absent-mindedly drinking a glass of wine.
Morgana did not ask Freya what was going on. She knew they were waiting for something to happen and it did.
Gwen came through the door and stood before Arthur's desk.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked him.
"Morgana." He said softly. It was a worry of his that never changed, never faded, always there in the shadows waiting for an opportunity.
Gwen sat down on the King's bed and Arthur followed her, leaving the cup on his desk.
"Christmas was one of the few times we actually got along." Arthur said with a light chuckle, a story on his mind.
He turned towards Gwen and began to tell. "A few years back, maybe you remember it, she got into this huge argument with father. We were dining at the time and I thought they would go on forever. Whenever that happened, I would kick her under the table, only that time I hit father."
"Didn't he send you to your room?" Gwen did recall something like that happening though all those years ago she didn't pay that much attention to Arthur's actions.
"Morgana as well, for laughing at it. Eventually she came to my room with a bottle of wine to make it up to me."
"Where did she get it from? I thought all the wine was drunk before supper was even done." Gwen recalled as such happened nearly every Christmas.
"I think she had an open bottle in her chambers somewhere and filled it up with water. I pretended not to notice."
Morgana remembered the day he spoke of and she did indeed add water to the wine. He didn't drink much but she though he hadn't noticed. It was a bit silly but fun nonetheless.
- Why am I smiling? - Morgana reprimanded herself.
Arthur smile turned upside down. "I don't understand how Morgause got such a hold over her."
Gwen sighed as she hated to dread on the past. "She lived in fear the moment she realised she had magic."
"Morgause exploited it. Exploited her fears as she did my grief." Arthur could relate.
Morgause almost caused him to kill his own father but that plot had failed. Had Morgana been the back-up plan all along? But there was another idea that occured to him.
"What if that is why there are sorcerers at the wall?" He reasoned but Gwen didn't quite follow.
"Ehm, 'that'?" She asked for clarification.
"All this time I thought the sorcerers attacking us proved that magic was evil but I never saw why." Arthur's revelation unfolded as he continued. "They didn't hate my father because he was King. They feared what he would do to them and their families if he found out they had magic."
"Now do you see why I do what I do?" Morgana silently begged that he had finally seen the light. It was odd for her to bear hope for her half-brother like that. If he had come to his senses, things could change.
"What are you thinking?" Gwen asked the very same question that was on Morgana's mind.
"I could've set her free. But I can't." Arthur voice was sad but no tears would flow, not for his enemy. "Not anymore, not after what she's done."
"Likewise." Morgana was fuming with anger.
The room turned dark and Morgana found herself in darkness with only Freya in sight.
"What's going on?" Morgana asked.
This had not happened with the other ghost, he just led her through the door and back to her hovel.
"I'm sorry for what you're about to see." Freya said as she too faded into darkness.
Despite the clear darkness, a cold wind from behind sought her attention.
There stood the hooded woman in a ragged black robe with a face as pale as death itself.
They had met before and Morgana knew her as the Cailleach.