Replies:

Sakhr al-Jinni: Hehe, it's rather fun putting plot twists in and seeing the reaction. Thanks for reviewing and you'll find out soon!

Scarletbanner: What? For once you have nothing to say? Achievement! I feel like cackling over my cauldron at the moment because of all your questions and I hope the outcome is even more unexpected… mwahaha.

Sjritts: If you didn't see it coming, that means I've done my job properly! Merlin's opinion is in this chapter.

IcarusLSU: Thanks! I can't wait to write what's going to happen *Morgana smirk*

Gespav: Wow, long review or what? :D Yeah it's okay being annoyed with Morgause; she's angered me a bit by keeping that letter secret. I loved your theories, they were excellent and well thought through, but neither of them is correct. I hope the outcome is a surprise! Thanks for your review!

Renaissancebooklover108: Really glad you like the letter, I enjoyed writing it. But is he a bad guy?

Merlinlovr: Thank you! Engagements will be later on, don't worry. Thank you for your kind offer on being a beta! I'd love your help! But unfortunately you left your e-mail address out of the review? I hope you like this chapter!

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! :D

XXX

Relief floods her.

Alvarr isn't a monster. He's just a poor, scared man who's trying to protect his family. He didn't do all those things because he wanted to, he was forced into it. And all this time she's hated him for it.

An uncomfortable lump forms high in her throat and the world seems to shatter into a million pieces. This was… it had to be true. It just had to be. It made sense. It made sense because she wants it to. She doesn't want Alvarr to be that person.

The poor man. He must've have felt terrified by such threats, especially if some of them came from Uther; he could be terrifying when he wanted to be. And now it might mean nothing after all. His parents probably were already dead. It is a loss she can empathize with, the death of a family member.

But she won't cry. Not yet. Not until she's shown the letter to Merlin. Then he'll understand. He might even cry with her. He'll feel the same way. He'll go with her to find out why Uther and this Sarrum man want to hurt her so badly. Merlin will help.

XXX

"Did you manage to find a job today?" He sounds cheerful as he comes through the front door.

"Not really," Morgana confesses, feeling guilty. She hears him sigh as he shuffles around the house, putting various things away.

"Did you fall weak to the kittens?"

"Kind of." The tiny fur balls had proved to be a welcome distraction, but not from job-hunting.

"Oh dear." He doesn't sound particularly sympathetic.

Her apology is half-hearted. "Sorry."

"So you've just being moping around the house all day?" He pops his head around the living room door with a cheeky grin.

She glowers at him. "I don't mope."

"Of course not," Merlin laughs, sitting next to her and nudging her shoulder with a cushion. "What have you been doing, then?"

"I went to see Morgause."

"Yeah? How is she?" He picks up the packet of custard creams from the coffee table, munching on one and offering them to her.

Morgana shakes her head. "No thanks. She's got flu, actually. She had to take the day off."

"Why'd you go and see her, then?"

She flashes the letter in front of her face. "She wanted to give me this. It's a letter from Alvarr."

He doesn't look shocked or surprised, just annoyed. "What was Morgause doing with it? Did he give it to her to pass on?"

"No, she found it at his house."

"When did she go there?"

"A few days after 'it' happened. She's had it ever since," Morgana says with a slight frown, not understanding why Morgause has kept it from it for so long.

Merlin voices her thoughts. "Why did she keep it for over a month?"

Morgana lies reluctantly to him, "She said she forgot about it."

He shrugs, as if this information was irrelevant to him anyway. "I'm guessing you've read it?"

"It's my letter," she says defensively. "And yes, I have. Several times."

Merlin takes the paper from her, putting down his half-eaten biscuit. "What's it about?"

"Just read it. Please, Merlin."

He stares her in the eyes for a few seconds before finally reading the letter. She watches his face as he takes in every word scrawled across the page, looking for any trace of emotion he might show.

But there is nothing, no effect on him whatsoever.

He hands the letter back to her. "It's bullshit."

Her heart sinks. "What do you mean?"

"It's a lie. He's just lying to you like he always has."

"But… what makes you think that?"

Now he looks shocked, angry even. "Are you saying that you believe this?"

Morgana hesitates. "Well, yes. Why would he have any reason to make it up?"

"So that you'll pity him! So that even now he'll have some control over you!"

"But-"

"He's trying to make you feel like you're in the wrong! All this shit about other people wanting to hurt you, it's him trying to shift all the blame on you. So that you think that it's your fault he hurt you, that's what he's always told you, Morgana. That it's your fault. This letter is no different."

"No, it's-"

"He doesn't care about you! He only cares about himself!" Merlin argues, desperate and frustrated.

"Then if he only cares about himself, why would he bother to write this letter when he could have made an escape? How do you explain that?"

"He could have written that two days before, he knew what he was going to do! He'd probably been planning it for months."

She opens her mouth to challenge him, but he stops her.

"I'm not discussing this anymore with you. It's pointless because we both know it's not true. Stop kidding yourself that this is going to have a happy ending. It's stupid and childish and I'm disappointed that you even believed it in the first place." He marches out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Morgause will help me!" She shouts after him.

He shouts back to her from half-way up the stairs. "Go and talk to her, then!"

XXX

Morgana knocks impatiently on the front door, angry and not wanting to hang around. "Morgause, are you in?"

The voice on the other side is much younger than the one she had expected to hear. "Who is it?"

"Mordred, it's me. It's Morgana."

"Mummy says I'm not allowed to open the door on my own."

Morgana sighs. "I'm sure she won't mind."

There is a pause on the other side of the door. "But… how do I know it's you?"

"Go to the front window, and then you'll see," Morgana instructs him. A few seconds later he appears at the glass, peering through the closed curtains and grinning as he sees her. She waves to him and points at the door. He nods and disappears again, the front door opens a moment later, Mordred standing in front of her.

"Hello, Morgana."

"Hello, Mordred. How was school?"

"Okay," he whispers. He leads her into the house, closing the front door quietly behind them. "It's the summer holidays on Friday."

She whispers, too. "Really?"

"Yes. Mummy says we might be able to go somewhere nice."

"That sounds like fun." Morgana follows him as he walks in the living room. The lights are turned and the curtains are drawn across. There is no natural light, just the TV screen. "Why is it so dark?"

"Mummy's asleep upstairs. I don't want to wake her up by having the lights on."

She smiles at his gesture. "Is that why we're whispering?"

"Yes," he says, louder this time and sits down cross-legged in the middle of the carpet.

Morgana joins him. "What are you watching?"

"In the Night Garden."

"Ah. Iggle Piggle is my favourite."

Mordred shrugs. "I like Macca-Pacca."

Morgana frowns at the screen. "Why have you got the subtitles on?"

"I didn't want to wake Mummy up," he repeats.

"Oh, I'm sure she won't mind, especially if it's In the Night Garden."

Mordred turns the volume up and turns off the captions. He rests his head on her shoulder. "I like watching other TV shows, too."

"Mm? Like what?" A wave of calm sweeps over her, it feels so different talking to Mordred, to a child.

"The Koala Brothers. You know the ones with the airplane?"

"Yeah, I think I remember that."

After a few minutes, the living room door creaks open, a crack of yellow light disrupting the dark.

Morgause's voice is thick due to her illness. "Mor'ana? What are you doing here?"

"I need your help."

Mordred gets up. "I'm going to draw a picture." He brushes past Morgause. The blonde looks sad as he leaves the room.

"What do you want my help for?"

"I need you to pretend to be a family member of Alvarr's so you can talk to him for me."

XXX

I know it's short but education is difficult, which I'm sure you all know. Anyway, this was Merlin and Morgana's reaction to the letter, which were both very different.

A few of you might be wondering why I wrote Merlin's reaction like I did, so I shall explain: Personally, I think Merlin's fed up of the guy for what Alvarr did to Morgana in the first place and now this letter has changed everything again, he's bound to be angry. He just wants everything to be good and fluffy. Explanation over.

Now that school has started again, I probably won't be able to stick to a specific updating schedule so you'll get the next chapter whenever.

Anywho! Please review to tell me what you thought of this chapter! Who do you think is right? Merlin or Morgana? I'm really interested in what you think!

Thanks for reading! :)