The Golden Age Universe
All for Love - Chapter 5
~Fran Gipani

Disclaimer - I don't own Merlin, or the characters...I'm just borrowing them and adding a couple of awesome OC's

AN - Thanks for all the support and love for this series! :) You guys are awesome! I'm sorry these chapters are short, I am trying my best to make them longer. I hope you enjoy the chapter and please try to leave a review if you have the chance :)

"What on earth has she done?" Brooke repeated, staring in sadness at Merlin like he was going to die, she knew the difference of what Magic was to her, versus what it was to her husband. The complications that could arise were drastic. "I knew you were lying when you said your lack of memory was the bang to the back of your head, Morgana must have done something to your Magic."

Merlin sighed, "I knew there was something wrong the moment I woke but I didn't want to worry you all until I'd worked it out."

"You didn't want to worry us? You didn't- Merlin we could have helped!" Brooke raised her voice, "keeping quiet about it wouldn't have helped, if anything it would have given Morgana more time to carryon with what ever she has planned for you." At that moment Maire, who had been asleep in her cot near Merlin's bed in Gaius' chambers, began to cry. Her mother's worried, and raised voice had disturbed her, Brooke turned her back to Merlin and lifted her small daughter from her crib. Maire's crying slowly stopped, but not before she'd woken Gaius.

"What is it?" He asked, having noticed the tension in the room. He looked from Brooke to Merlin, then back again. There was a moments silence before Brooke began to speak and explain Merlin's predicament, all the while rocking Maire slowly to keep her calm. Gaius' curious expression went from curious to worried, then frustration when Brooke had finished. He sent an annoyed glare in Merlin's direction. "Merlin I-" He paused, "I'm sure Brooke has said enough on the subject of your idiocy, so I'm not going to comment on that." He was about to carry on but Merlin interrupted.

"Please don't tell Arthur." The Warlock spoke up.

"What shouldn't they tell me?" Arthur's voice turned all heads in the room, but Merlin however, avoided Arthurs stern gaze. "What is it?" He repeated a little louder, "I came as soon as the messenger told me you were awake Merlin."

"Messenger?" Brooke and Merlin said in unison.

"I sent one," Gaius replied, "I sent him as soon as Maire woke me with her crying."

"Anyway, what's wrong?" Arthur pushed the subject.

Reluctantly Merlin retold the story from when he'd woken the first time. He didn't leave anything out, not even the lies he'd told them all. Merlin watched as Arthur's expression turned from annoyed, to fuming within a matter of seconds. Dropping his gaze to his knees, Merlin could almost feel Arthur's frustration in the quiet room.

"You what?" Arthur growled, "Merlin you idiot! I thought we were over lying, even to protect each other. If you think that for some reason Morgana has done something to your Magic then you need to tell us. I may have no clue what make your powers tick but at least if Gaius knows then he can instruct me on how to help you." The king ran a hand through his hair, "Gaius do you have any idea what she could have done?"

"None Sire, but I am sure that with a little time I could find out."

"Okay then, where do we start?" Brooke said with a worried smile, "I can't imagine it will be long before Morgana tries something else."
-afl-

The four spent most of the morning pouring over Gaius' collection of Magical books, Gwen arrived a little later with the twins - who, though they couldn't read too well, looked at the pictures and passed books from person to person, thus making them feel like they were doing something to help - by then the room had become rather crowded and the floor was strewn with thick, dust covered books. Just after their hasty lunch, Arthur and Gwen left ith the twins and headed off to attend a council meeting, leaving just Gaius, Brooke and an unusually tired Merlin.

Brooke closed the book shed just finished with a decisive thump, "I've found nothing really useful in any of these, all they are talking about is the fact that an induced loss of Magic should be near impossible without the use of Merlin's level of power. Morgana was injured and weak, when she took Merlin, there was no way she could have done anything of the sort."

"Exactly," Gaius replied, "it would be impossible for her and yet here Merlin is, with his power slowly being drained from him and his energy levels dropping. We need to work out what she's done."

"You know," Merlin slurred slightly, "they may be something the stores of books that Uther locked away during the purge. I have a key to the room, Arthur gave it to me, I go down in a moment, I just-"

"You are not going anywhere Merlin," Brooke interrupted, "you look like you're about to keel over." Moments later Merlin proved her right, he'd slumped in his seat, eyes closed, head resting on the table. "Well that made that decision easy," she said with a small smile, before helping Gaius to manoeuvre his lifeless body onto the bed.

"Leave Maire with me, I'll keep looking here," he lifted a ring of keys from the hook on the wall by the door, "take my key. I really hope you find something."

"So do I Gaius, so do I." She replied before kissing Merlin and Maire goodbye, she left the room at a small run. Not wanting to waste anymore time.

Within fifteen minutes Brooke was down in the vaults under the castle, the one she was looking for was right at the back, and she was thankful for the flaming torches which were positioned strategically along the rocky wall. Eventually she got to the heavy locked door and lifted the chunky key to the lock, with an echoing clunk the door swung open to reveal a room full to burst with piles of dusty old books. Lucky Uther had thought it would be good to keep the offending magic books, just in case they would become useful to defend themselves from Magic, she thought with a thankful smile on her face.

Starting on the left side of the room and moving across, Brooke began to flick through the thickly paged books, looking for any mention of Magic loss in a person. Lifting down a pile of books which looked relevant, Brooke sat with her back against the cold stone and began to read. She had no idea how long she'd spent down there but it must have been quite a while as she eventually slumped where she was sitting and drifted off to sleep. An old book closed over her hand by her side.

Brooke watched as Morgana rode towards the place where she'd broken the veil into the void, she seemed happy. Then as Morgana grew closer to her destination the witch seemed to grow stronger and more powerful. Seconds later the image jumped to be one of Merlin, somehow he was upright and walking towards what looked like a large whirl pool, distorting the air around the gathering of large stone boulders. 'Merlin!' she tried to call out, 'MERLIN!' But he couldn't hear a word, he looked back for a second, just one second long enough for Brooke to see the look of sadness on his face. Merlin then stepped into the open space, 'NO! Merlin!' She yelled but still he didn't hear, and he disappeared into thin air. Morgana's cruel laugh filled her ears jolting her awake.