A/N: Hi everyone! So another quick chapter upload because I've got another day off! It's a snow day but it's not snow outside, it's ice! ICE! Hard, compacted, ice! I can't make snowball and throw it at someone so therefore I consider this snow day wasted! Anyway, here is chapter 6 of Nightmares which is the longest chapter yet! It's exactly 6 pages! Chapter 6 is 6 pages, thought that was a funny coincidence. I've also realized that these past two chapters I've forgotten to thank everyone for their reviews right here so I will do that now for the last chapter (and will continue to do it for the chapters to come). But first thank you for the follows and favorites: You are all epically awesomely amazing!
And thank you sooo much to everyone who reviewed: TheSilverSleeper (yes, you are right Arthur was a bit OOC but I wrote him that way because he was just as broken as Merlin for being betrayed by yet another person and also in his mind he truly believes that what he is doing is best for Camelot, and we know Arthur will stop at nothing to do what is best for his kingdom), Guest (glad you liked the chapter and you will find out if you were right about Gwen in this chapter), Hannaly (I'm glad I have you on the edge of your seat and hopefully it'll stay that way! You'll see if you were right about Gwen in this chapter), Fai's smile (you will find out about Gwen and the reason for her OOCness in this chapter and I made sure to elaborate on the Resistence, although maybe not in the way you were expecting ;), Guest (I love the Resistance as well and your questions should be answered in this chapter), don't-even'-ask1 (thank you, that means so much, I hope you enjoy this chapter),grayember13 (yay, I hope this chapter does not disappoint)
Thank you again for everything, you all make this story possible! I also realized I forgot to mention when this story takes place. It is during season 4 and 5 in case anyone was wondering.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin but I do own Alexia, Benedict, Walter, Thea, Eleanor so Me: 6 counting Mirabelle (again with the #6) and Merlin: still 2,000. I'm fighting a losing battle here, aren't I?
Nightmares
Merlin couldn't process anything but his running footsteps as he raced to the dungeons after Leon.
No, no, no, no, no. Not Gaius. Please not Gaius!
Leon quickly turned the corner and approached the last cell on the end. He knew he must get to Gaius and execute him with the upmost secrecy. He must be completely alone for this task to be completed. Nobody must know-
"Hello, Sir Leon." Gwen said as the knight entered Gaius's cell.
"G-Gwen?" Sir Leon said, flabbergasted that somebody was actually down here and not up fighting in the riot. Although come to think of it, he hadn't seen her after Gaius's trial was interrupted. This did not bode well for the knight.
Merlin on the other hand, who was currently hidden behind the wall to Leon's right, was watching the events unfold with a satisfied smile. He had planned to secretly take Leon out with magic (although Merlin wasn't sure why it needed to be secret, just an old habit) before he executed Gaius, but with Gwen here Leon wouldn't dare carry out the King's brutal wish in front of her. Gwen was a kind soul, she would never wish unnecessary harm to others.
That was why he was a bit surprised on hearing her next words.
"We seem to have a problem. I was walking to the armory when I heard suspicious noises coming from down here. I decided to investigate and have now come to the unfortunate realization that Gaius has escaped. He must have used his wicked gifts of sorcery to outwit his king. How dare he!? How could he do something like practicing sorcery!? How could he betray us like this?! After all we've been through!?" The Queen faltered now, as tears began streaming down her face.
Sir Leon engulfed her in a quick hug to make sure she was all right. "Do not worry, milady. This sorcerer will be found, and when he is found, he will be executed."
"Thank you Sir Leon." Gwen said gratefully.
Leon turned around and began to walk out the door when something stopped him in his tracks.
"Milady," he said slowly as he turned around to face her, "The armory is on the other side of the castle. If you were journeying there, you would not have passed the dungeons. There was no way you could have heard noises from here if the armory was your true destination."
"Oh, damn." The Queen said, wiping away her tears to show that she had never truly been crying in the first place. "I was supposed to the say the infirmary. Oh well, then sorry about this Leon."
"About wh-" the knight began to say warily, before the hilt of Gwen's concealed sword struck him in the head, knocking him out.
His unconscious body falls to the ground in front of Gwen to reveal Merlin standing outside the cell, looking extremely shocked at what Gwen had just done.
"Oh hello Merlin." Gwen says. "Would you be a dear and maybe put some sort of memory loss spell on him so he forgets what just happened. I could ask Alexia to do it, but she doesn't have much control over her magic yet, so he may end up looking like a toad for all we know."
"Um, I, um," Merlin stuttered, not quite sure what to say.
"Look, we haven't got much time. I'll explain everything later but any second now the riots could end and someone could find us down here. We really must go quickly." Gwen said.
"Right, ok." Merlin said, still not sure what was going on but deciding to take everything in stride. After all, what's the worst that can happen?
He quickly knelt beside Leon and muttered a quick incantation; one that should do the trick.
"Alright," he said, standing back up, "that should keep him unconscious long enough for us to escape. When he wakes up, he won't remember any of the events that happened in this dungeon."
Gwen nodded. "He'll probably think Gaius drugged him or used some spell on him. It should be safe."
'Speaking of Gaius…" Merlin said, trailing off.
"He's fine." Gwen smiled reassuringly. "In fact, I'll take you to see him right now."
And with that she made her way out of the cell and through the dungeons, Merlin following eagerly behind her.
She quickly made her way around the castle through a series of back passageways and corridors that Merlin didn't even know existed. And that was saying something considering how many times he'd snuck around this castle on his own.
Soon they were out of the castle and making their way through the forest, Merlin following Gwen as she stepped over fallen leaves and branches with ease as he, true to form, could not seem to find one that he could not trip over.
After about 5 minutes they came to a cave entrance that was well concealed through trees and foliage. Gwen looked around behind Merlin to make sure no one was following them, and then made her way inside, Merlin at her heels.
XXX
"That's not what I asked you Gilli. I asked you whether or not it was possible to turn a boy ferret into a girl ferret. Charles is getting lonely and I feel bad for him, and my brother has Oliver but he isn't a girl and so I doubt it'll work out between them."
"You can't just steal your brother's ferret, Alexia!"
"Why? He doesn't care about it! He, or she if things go may way-"
"When do they not?"
"will have a better home with me."
"I don't care about your stupid ferret! Why can't you just-"
"HEY! Would you two just shut up for two seconds? We've got more important matters to deal with right now, don't you think?" Mordred said.
Gilli and Alexia looked at him defiantly as Mordred turned around and knelt next to Gaius beside him. "How are you feeling Gaius?" Mordred asked.
"I'm fine, I'll be better when I have some rest." Gaius answered, still a bit shaky from his ordeal.
Suddenly footsteps could be heard coming down from the entrance of their hidden cave. The cave's occupants turned around to see Gwen and Merlin descending into their secret hideout.
"Look who finally decided to show up." Gwen announced, a smile on her face as she gestured to Merlin.
"Merlin!" Gaius yelled happily and ran up to hug the boy, all shakiness momentarily forgotten.
Gilli smiled at his old friend, glad to see he was alive and well. Merlin returned his smile as he was hugging Gaius.
"Emrys." Mordred said, looking at Merlin with surprise. "What happened?"
"I could ask you all the same thing." Merlin said, happy that Gaius was alive and well, but extremely confused about the events unfolding before him.
"Yes, I do believe we owe Merlin an explanation." Gwen said, addressing the group. "I rushed him out of Camelot pretty fast, offering no explanation whatsoever. He probably has plenty of questions."
Everyone nodded, agreeing with Gwen. For the first time, Merlin was really able to get a good look at the room Gwen had led him in. It was fairly large, and had the dark brown earthy walls of anything underground. A round table was in the middle of the room, looking vaguely familiar to Merlin, and there were large shelves at the back of the room holding various odds and ends, as well as a variety of magical items. The room was occupied by about 8 people; 4 (Gwen, Gaius, Gilli, Mordred) that Merlin did know, and 4 that he didn't. Although based on the conversation that was occurring when Merlin first arrived, the girl standing beside Gilli was Alexia, the untrained witch.
Just as Merlin was opening his mouth to ask, yet again, what the hell was going on, running footsteps could be heard coming from the front of the cave.
And two seconds later, who could come running in but Sir Gwaine, knight of Camelot.
"Ok, so we have a serious-" he started to say, but stopped dead when he saw the young warlock in front of him.
"Merlin." Gwaine said and, instead of punching him in the face for being an ugly traitor as Merlin had thought he would, he ran up and hugged him, squeezing the life out of the poor boy.
"Dear God, am I happy to see you!" Gwaine said.
Suddenly a girl with mousy brown hair and a bossy look came running in. "Everything seems to be all clear, but I'm afraid I don't know what's happened to Robin. We'll have to-"
"Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!" Merlin said, his voice somewhat strained thanks to being almost suffocated to death by a very happy Sir Gwaine.
"Right, we must do that first. Everyone sit down!" Guinevere said, in her very commanding Queen voice.
Instantly everyone got up (or in Sir Gwaine's case, released their suffering victims) and chose a seat at the round table.
"Table look familiar, Merlin?" Gwaine asked, pulling out a chair for the boy. "It's the same one we all sat around when we pledged our allegiance to Arthur after Morgana's takeover. Kind of ironic, considering what it's being used for now, aren't I right?"
"You might be, but I have no way of knowing considering I have absolutely no earthly idea what is going on." Merlin said as he sat down.
"Merlin," Gwen said, she seemed to be in charge, "welcome to the Resistance."
"The Resistance?" Merlin said, surprised. "Like the people in the square earlier?"
"No kid, this is the real Resistance. Whatever was going on in the square today, that was just child's-play compared to what we do." Gwaine said.
"What Gwaine means to say is, we have a more organized set up, more effective defensive methods, and are overall cleverer." Gwen said. "We are an organization of people in Camelot who don't believe in the Purge or some of Arthur's" seeing Merlin's wince at that name Gwen quickly backtracked to, "my husband's methods, but do believe in the future that he will build. We want away with the current unjust laws, but don't want to topple our government system or kill the king. The people in the square today were sorcerers who were just scared"
"And extremely stupid" interjected a blonde-headed boy to Merlin's right.
"and acted without thinking." Gwen continued, ignoring the boy's interruption. "They have no connection with us, although I almost wish they did, so we could have shown them the danger of their actions and hopefully have prevented the death in the square that surely occurred today."
"How many people are in the Resistance?" Merlin asked.
"There are those you see here," Gwen said, "which are Gaius, Gwaine, Walter," the blonde-headed boy, "Thea," the mousy-haired bossy girl, "Alexia, Gilli, Eleanor," tall with piercing blue eyes, "Benedict" who had curly black hair, "and Mordred."
"Elyan is also part of the Resistance; he just had to stay back at the castle for this meeting to cover our tracks." Gwaine said.
"Yes, he may also find a very confused Sir Leon back there." Gwen said.
Gwaine looked very confused at this, and opened his mouth to ask a question but Merlin beat him to it.
"Are there any more of you?" he asked.
"Yes," said Thea, "there's Robin."
"Yes, there is Robin," Gwen said calmly, "as well as a few others scattered around Camelot. However, Robins current whereabouts seem to be unknown, thanks to the riots in the courtyard today. Hopefully, he wasn't hurt."
"They're so stupid!" the boy Walter said. "What did they hope to accomplish exactly? The king would have died but then what next?"
"Sometimes people get scared, Walter." Gwen said reassuringly. "When that happens people tend to do things they would regret."
Was it just Merlin's imagination, or did Gwen's eyes flicker over to him for a second. He certainly had quite a lot of explaining to do.
"This is not good." Mordred said solemnly. "Robin was one of our best sorcerers."
Alexia gave him an annoyed look and opened her mouth to say something probably sassy, but Gwen shut her up quickly with a stern look of her own.
"Are all of you sorcerers?" Merlin asked. Maybe he wasn't the only one in the castle who was hiding such a secret.
"No, not all of us, some are, but others just believe in peace and equality and want to do what is right." Gwen said.
"What is it exactly that you guys do?" asked Merlin.
"We save people." Gwen said, very proud of her cause. "We have saved the lives of many people, sorcerers or not, that have suffered from this strict new rule. We have gained an effect on politics, which is mostly where I come in. We have brought hope to people in Camelot who are on the verge of giving up. We have protected Camelot from many threats that could not be faced by the regular army. We've done this all at great risk, just to protect and secure the people and the place we love. Basically Merlin, we're being you."
"But we are fighting for our cause to come, making a difference, not just sitting back and waiting for it." Mordred said, looking at Merlin with a look that did not express fondness.
"Mordred!" Gwen said, astonished at his words. "You can't-"
"No, no it's all right." Merlin said. "Mordred's right anyway. You are revolutionaries, I was not. The Resistance is definitely more than I ever was."
"Merlin," Gwen started to say, but Merlin quickly cut her off.
"So how did this start?" he asked, getting off the subject of Mordred's statement.
It was Gwaine who answered this time. "When Arthur banished you, the positive effect you had on him slowly began to diminish. Some of the old Arthur was still there, but it just wasn't the same. When the Purge began again, I knew it wasn't right. I remembered you saving my life and the theory that all sorcerers are evil just wasn't making sense to me. So I made sure to seek out Gaius and have him tell me what was really going on. He told me about all the wonderful things you did for all of us, and the fact that you got nothing in return. I thought this story may be enough to change Arthur's mind but alas, it was not so. You should have seen the fight we had when I tried to knock some sense into him. It was not pretty. Worse than some of my various bar fights, and that's saying something. I mean, if you had been there in Causeway 2 years ago, you would have seen me-"
"And that is where I came in." Gwen said, cutting Gwaine off of what had all the makings of a very entertaining, but unnecessary, story. "I overheard the argument between Arthur and Gwaine. Now I, sorry about this Merlin, had felt very betrayed when I learned of what Merlin had done to Arthur, and I vowed, again really sorry about this, to never speak to or of him again. However, when I heard what Gwaine and Arthur were arguing about, I began to have doubts of my own. So I went to find Gaius and he told me what he told Gwaine, yet even I couldn't get through to Arthur. I talked to Elyan about my findings and he agreed with my newfound assumption that maybe all sorcerers don't deserve to be treated the way we treat them now, and we mulled over what to do. Later we talked to Gwaine and we decided things can't go on like this, with Arthur tightening the reins on his hunt for magic."
"That's when they found us." Gilli said. "Robin and I were in the woods, practicing our magic, which I now know was not the smartest idea."
"I know that from experience." Merlin said, smiling.
Gilli laughed. "Yes in hindsight, we should have probably seen this coming, but at the time we were completely surprised when a large group of knights came and tried to arrest us for using magic. We hid in this cave until we thought they were gone, and when we emerged, we saw the Queen, Sir Gwaine, and Sir Elyan waiting for us. We were scared out of our minds, thought they were gonna string us up, but instead they just looked at us. After a few seconds of silence Sir Gwaine said "We need your help." And that was the beginning."
"We eventually gained more followers and this turned into a large operation." Gwen said, picking up the story again. "So far it's been going well, with minor slip-ups here and there, and it was a big scare when Gaius was found out of still practicing sorcery. He needed to for some of our plans, but we never dreamed he'd be found out. I have remained at my husband's side and was one of the first to be aware of his trial, and I went immediately to inform the rest of our group. We had devised a plan to save Gaius's life, we had no intentions of leaving him, however when the so-called "Resistance" attacked, it seemed like a good time to get Gaius out of there. I didn't quite count on Leon coming down when I was there, but hopefully Elyan has sorted it all out. I'm not sure what that means for you though Gaius, we'll have to see."
Gwen paused for a second, then said, "And Merlin, I don't want you thinking that I don't love my husband. I do love Ar-him dearly, however I also love Camelot. I'm doing what I believe is best for my kingdom and my husband in the long run. The king believes that I hate sorcery as much as he does, which is not true, but other than that, not much has changed. We are still in love and he is kind to me and I do my best for him. I am happy, we both are."
Merlin smiled. "I am glad to hear that, Gwen."
She smiled back. "Any more questions, Merlin?"
"Just one." He said, and turned to Alexia. "What's this about a ferret?"
Everyone laughed as Alexia went into a long rant about lonely Charles, no one noticing Mordred smiling suspiciously on the far side of the table, fingering the hidden Adoewen crest on his cloak.
Soon.
A/N: So the next chapter could be about quite a few different things so I want to know what you guys want to read about (whether it's what's going on with Arthur or Merlin or their enemies, you'll hear about them all eventually just you decide the order) and if you have any questions you would like me to address. Also, Merlin hasn't bounced completely back from his self-loathing months, his feelings will return, and in full force. Thanks for reading and let me know what you thought of this chapter! Now I'm going to go watch some Star Trek: The Next Generation! Engage!