AN:
At Guest: She's delusional but that's about to end.
We've been here before
Morgana woke up with a pain in her back. Opening her eyes explained why. She was in her hovel but she hadn't been sleeping in bed or even lying down. She was hanging by the manacles hanging from the ceiling.
"Quite a turn of events this is." Someone, male judging by his voice, mocked her.
Her vision was still blurred but after blinking a couple of times she saw that it was Merlin who kept her captive. The sorcerer had hidden his disguise as this was too personal to do in the skin of someone else.
"Cute." She glared at him.
"Likewise." He quipped though it made no sense to her.
"So how does it feel to be helpless?" Asked Merlin.
The young warlock remembered his time as her captive and wondered if she felt the same. The witch smirked and chuckled.
"Chains don't make me helpless. Hleap on baec!" But nothing happened.
Much to her annoyance Merlin raised a cocky eyebrow.
"Hleap on baec!" She tried once more but it remained an attempt.
Merlin kneeled down at her bed and grabbed something that hung beneath it. Morgana couldn't quite see what it was but it was definitely made of straw. The sorcerer showed it to her with a self-satisfied smile.
"This is what made you helpless." He said as he wiggled the puppet right in front of her like it were a girl's doll.
When he had taken her to her hovel he first let her rest on the bed. It gave him time to make the puppet that would disarm her and, after ensuring she would not wake, he made preparations for the rest of his plan. Morgana didn't know she had been asleep for longer than a day and Arthur and Agravaine had returned to Camelot already. If she hadn't been hanging from the ceiling then she might have felt well-rested.
"Truth be told, I didn't plan this. I spotted you while you were waiting for Arthur. It was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up." He explained with a smug grin that didn't suit him.
"I warned you and this is how you repay me?" She thought it her turn to be angry but he disagreed.
"What does a warning mean when you could have stopped it before it had even begun?" His eyes were shooting daggers at her.
Nothing she would say would please him. The words would only give him reason to shout at her. Part of it was truth. She could have protected Hunith rather than let her be captured for the sake of an alliance.
Merlin began to circle her like a vulture and she hoped he wasn't still waiting for an answer to lash out at.
"I'm going to make this very easy for you." He said with an odd smile.
Morgana cocked her head. Whatever was going on in that head of his, she didn't like it. When she tortured him, she said she wasn't going to make it easy. This moment, his words, they were starting to frighten her.
His face came eerily close to hers. "All you have to do is bleed."
The way he dragged out the 'e' chilled her to the bone.
"W-What?" She stuttered.
"Bleed." He repeated, "I have no need of an elaborate plot involving you but neither am I willing to give you a swift death."
Merlin took the jewelled dagger Arthur had given her for her birthday from the table and let the cold metal touch the skin of her face. He pushed aside part of her dress to expose her midriff and let the tip of the dagger move across it slowly. Morgana was holding her breath and Merlin revelled at the sight of her fear. He knew she was vain and this was just one of several weaknesses he knew of.
"We can kill Arthur together." She desperately tried to bargain with him.
"You betrayed me." He replied.
"WHAT?!" Morgana shouted incredulously but flinched because her outburst made the dagger draw blood.
"I thought you trusted me but apparently you trusted Morgause more."
There was pain in his eyes. Unresolved issues were coming to the surface. He could have confronted her about it ages ago but he never did. The dark persona before her was everything he had always kept in the darkest corner of his mind.
"She was my sister." Morgana defended herself but, as before, it was an answer he wanted to hear.
"SHE CURSED YOU!" Merlin shouted as he pressed the dagger closer against her skin but didn't add another cut. "She risked your life for the sake of killing Uther. I tried so hard to see the good in you even after you resurrected the dead but I knew I had lost when you willingly betrayed Gwen. SHE TRUSTED YOU! You've known her since childhood and you betrayed her!" His eyes had started glowing halfway through and the vials on the shelves were shaking.
By the end of it tears ran down his cheeks and lightly reflected the gold of his eyes. Merlin quickly realised that his emotions were getting the best of him and stepped back for a moment. He put his back against one of the shelves in an attempt to calm down as his hands shook violently with the anger still inside.
Morgana finally saw what was wrong with him. He was broken. They had pushed him over the edge. He made regrettable choices which now haunted him. Some of his friends had died and others had become the enemy. In the end he was betrayed by the ones he protected and losing everything he held dear. It was saddening to see him like this. Arthur, Uther, Gwen, Gaius and she had turned him into this bitter shadow of the man he once was.
"It's disgusting to think I once longed for you." Merlin continued, "But the Lady I loved is gone and all I see is a woman whose hands are stained by the blood of the innocent."
That nearly broke her. He had loved her. It was mutual. She could have loved him and he would have loved her back. Her feelings towards him had seemed so silly at first. He wasn't the kind of man usually described as attractive. Women were supposed to fall in love with a burly Knight with epic tales and a confidence that the world was theirs. She didn't agree, never did. Replacing the word 'Knight' with 'man' made it seem like the description of a drunkard. Merlin was soft compared to them but that's what made him so more real. There was no pretending when they were together. He was kind, honest and brimming with hope. Those cheekbones of his made him quite handsome though nobody else seemed to notice. His unforgettable ears brought out his adorable, heart-warming smiles. He was so bashful and yet had epic tales but he never told them or boasted about anything else. There was something that needed to be said, to be shared, but he spoke before she could.
"Once I'm done with you, you'll be as ugly on the outside as you are on the inside."
He wanted to torture her without end.
"Please." She breathed huskily.
Merlin chuckled darkly and turned his back towards her. She could hear him clean his tools in the bowl of water.
"Save your breath. You'll need it when I sell you to Queen Annis."
Morgana saw something move outside and her eyes fell upon a shadowy shape, a person. She looked at Merlin who still had his back towards her before turning back to the shadowy shape, hopefully Agravaine, and silently moved her lips as if saying 'Arthur'.
She hated to admit it but right now he was the only person that might be able to save her.
But would he arrive in time?
AN:
I know Merlin is OOC but there's a reason for it!
In any case, this is Evil!Merlin though not how you'd expect it. So, do you trust me?
