CHAPTER 69

I do not own Doctor Who or Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

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Obviously this story takes place before Bad Wolves Chapter 53.

LILY WRIGHT, HIGH PRIESTESS OF THE TRIPLE GODDESS?

I woke up on a cot in a small room with stone walls. I still felt very sick but not as bad as I had before. At least I was conscious. I tried to slowly sit up and eventually found enough energy to prop myself up on one elbow.

"Lily, are you alright now?" Robin asked with concern from somewhere just out of my sight.

I tried to turn to look at him even as my elbow threatened to give way from underneath me. He quickly rushed to my side to keep me from falling over and helped me to sit up.

"Thanks, Robbie. Gah! I'm sorry. I'm trying not to call you by those nicknames, but this incarnation seems to just love them. Thank you. I'm feeling better now. I think that my brain is starting to stabilize at last. I feel so weak though that I can barely stay awake," I said.

"Just go back to sleep then. You need to rest," Robin said.

"No, I've had enough rest. I want to get up and do something. I'm anxious to try this new body out. Are you sure you like it? Just say the word if you don't and I'll change it. I can change anything about it that you want," I offered testing him.

"I don't care what you look like. All I care about is that you're alright," Robin said.

He passed with flying colors of course, and I smiled at him and kissed him. He instantly went rigid with fear until I pulled away.

"I'm so sorry, Robin. I never meant to hurt you. I wasn't right in the head. I'm alright now though. That'll never happen again. I really hope you won't cringe like that every time that I go to kiss you from now on. That could hurt a girl's feelings," I said.

"No, I won't. It'll never happen again. I promise. I'm sorry that I did that. I was just a little afraid that you might not be stable yet, and I had to be prepared to save my life," Robin said.

"It would be a horrible way to die, wouldn't it?" I said half grinning.

"I could think of worse ways," Robin said as he kissed me this time.

Allison walked in on us and smiled as she said, "You must be feeling better now if you're already making out with Dad again."

"A little, yeah. I'm sorry for what happened before, Fr- Ally. I just keep trying to call you that even though I know you hate it," I said in a weak voice.

"It's okay. I'm just glad that you're alright now. We almost lost you," Allison said looking sad for a moment.

"What?" I asked surprised.

"The regeneration went wrong, and Merlin took you to see Camelot's physician, Gaius. Gaius is a brilliant man and I for one am so grateful for that. He went through every combination of medicine that he could with Ivy's help. The two of them worked together far into the night trying to help you as your fever became higher and higher. Once your second heart seemed like it was about to quite beating. It was so weak. Finally Gaius and Ivy came up with something that broke your fever and made your hearts go back to normal. It was some kind of rare root. It had some unpronounceable name to it. Frankly, I don't care what it was. I'm just glad that you're going to be okay now," Robin said kissing me again softly.

"I have to thank them," I said as I felt both upset and shocked at how close to death that I had just come.

I started to get up and both Robin and Allison pushed me back down on the bed. They held me down as I weakly struggled in vain against them. I knew that they were trying to keep me from hurting myself, but it still made me angry. I hated feeling weak and helpless. I had ever since the day that I had been too weak and small to save my family from dying, and I never wanted to feel that way again.

"Mum, just lie down and rest," Allison said in a soothing voice.

"I don't want to rest. I want to walk around and get used to my new body. I have to get the steering straightened out," I said in a stubborn, angry voice.

"Lily, lie down and go to sleep," Robin said.

"No, I'm going to walk around," I said obstinately.

I slowly got up and Allison stood as close to me as she could. She was prepared to catch me if I fell as I started to walk forward on wobbly legs. This was infuriating! Why was this regeneration going so badly? It had never happened like this before.

It must be my exposure to all of Brax's Vortex energy. Apparently the power of the Vortex and my genes don't mix very well except inside of Rose of course.

I slowly walked out of the room with Allison hovering around me the entire time. I was both irritated and touched by that at the same time. I sided with the better part of my nature and gave Allison a small kiss to the cheek to show my appreciation of her efforts that nearly bowled me over.

"Yeah, definitely have to work on the balance in this one," I said as I grinned at her.

"You really make me look forward to regeneration, Mum," Allison said sighing.

"You're young. It'll be a long time before you have to worry about it, Freya. Blast it!" I said as I grimaced at calling her the wrong name again.

"It's okay," Allison said smiling.

"No, it's not. I hate this new body. I can't control my steering or my brain. I'm just a total mess in this incarnation. I'm rubbish," I said in frustration.

Then Allison hugged me and said, "Don't get so upset. I'm here and I'll help you as long as you need me to."

"Thanks," I said being so proud of her in that moment.

Somehow I slowly but surely made my way to where Ivy and Gaius were making something together. It was obviously some new medicine for me to take. They both looked up in surprise as I entered the room.

"You shouldn't be walking around so soon after having shaken off a fever. Your body needs to have time to rest or you might suffer a relapse," Gaius said.

"Lily, go lie down," Ivy said firmly.

"Yeah, I tried that. It doesn't work," Allison said.

"You all need to stop treating me like a child. I'm fine now. I just wanted to come and thank the two of you for saving me," I said as I softly hugged both of them.

Ivy flinched too at my hug at first just like Robin had, but then she quickly relaxed. I was sure that I was going to get more of that before the day was over with.

"So you're feeling better again? Good. I really hope that I don't have to rescue you from Wyverns anymore," Merlin said with a grin as he came into the room.

"I wasn't myself or maybe I was. I hope not though. I'm still not sure who this new me is yet though so I can't say for sure," I said.

"Oh, well that's not confusing. Not in the slightest," Merlin said.

Suddenly a memory popped up in my mind that I hadn't been able to recall before now thanks to the muddled nature of my mind before. I remembered hearing about a Merlin before.

"Do you know Jenny?" I asked.

Merlin's face lit up and I immediately had my answer as he said, "She's a very good friend of mine. How do you know her?"

"I'm her grandmother. She's told me all about you. She said that she likes to keep tabs on you and help you out from time to time. I think she thinks of you as a brother. The two of you must have really hit it off during that whole Eye of Rassilon hunt. It was too bad that I was a little out of it during that one. I would have loved to have been there for that. It sounded like fun. I'm the one who destroyed the Eye in the first place and started the whole mess you know," I said rambling.

"You are Jenny's grandmother? Really? That's amazing. My Cara is much older than she looks too, but she's maintained her youth with magic. You must have magic too in order to destroy something as powerful as the Eye and to keep your youthful appearance for so long," Merlin said in awe.

"Well, I am pretty amazing. It's not magic though. It's science. Purely science of an advanced kind that's kind of hard to explain. Let's just say that when my body grows too old or is damaged, I regenerate and get a brand new one. That's what happened to me lately. I was killed and had to renew myself. This time it didn't go too well though, and I almost died for good," I explained.

"It sounds like magic to me. It doesn't matter. I'm just glad that you're alright especially now that I know that you're Jen's grandmother. I owe her a lot. I wouldn't have Cara if it wasn't for her, and apparently my life would have turned out completely different and not for the better either," Merlin said.

"Yeah, my Jen does that. She seems to have a special knack of bringing out the best in everyone and everything that she touches. She gets it from me you know. My, I've become kind of full of myself. Is that who I am in this regeneration? A braggart? I hope not. I'm starting to sound too much like the Doctor now. If I start talking about how cool that I am, someone just slap me. Please! Becoming the Doctor is a fate worse than death," I said rambling yet again.

"She's definitely feeling better now. I can tell. She won't shut up," Ivy said with a smirk.

"Zip it, Cleo," I said annoyed.

"Cleo? I thought you said that your name was Ivy," Gaius said.

"It is. Cleo is my nickname. Isn't it, Lily?" Ivy hissed in warning.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is. That's my mistake. I usually only call her that in private," I said realizing my slip-up and feeling guilty about it.

What could it possibly hurt though? It wasn't like anyone here knew Cleopatra after all, right? I was soon to find out just how wrong that I was.

"You're Cleopatra?" Cara said from the doorway in a voice filled with anger.

"Oh, great. Thanks a lot, Lil!" Ivy said with a groan.

"Cleopatra? No, no! It's just a nickname. That's all," I said trying to save the day at the last minute.

Cara wasn't buying it though. She started to glow with mystic energy as she said to Ivy, "You are Cleopatra. I can see through your clever little disguise. It can hide your appearance but not your body language or your mannerisms. You're Cleopatra, the vampire that killed everyone in the village of Greenbriar so long ago."

Ivy turned off her perception filter and said, "Yes, I am. I'm so sorry for all of that. I know that nothing I could say could ever make up for that though. I really am truly sorry for what it's worth to you."

"She's not a vampire anymore and therefore not the same person as she was back then. She's been cured and is her old self again. She's a good woman, Cara. You must believe me," I said as I got in front of her.

"Cara, back down. If Jenny's grandmum says that she's alright, then I believe her," Merlin said.

"You weren't there. You didn't see all of the dead that day with all of their blood drained from their throats. I did. I vowed to avenge them, and that's what I'm going to do," Cara said.

"Who was there that you knew?" Ivy asked knowingly.

"One of my best friends. She was only sixteen and so was I. I almost visited her that day, and I've wished that I had ever since then. I could have stopped you. Even then I had magic, and I could have destroyed you. Now I'm going to make up for that," Cara said coldly.

"Cara, this isn't you. You sound like Nimueh now, and you're starting to scare me," Merlin said.

"Until I destroy her, I am Nimueh for all intents and purposes. Move aside, Lily. I don't want to hurt you," Cara said.

"You're going to have to if you want to get to her. Will you attack a weak, sick woman, Cara? Is that the kind of person that you are?" I said defiantly.

"Lily, move!" Ivy said in fear.

"No," I said firmly.

"My Aunt Ivy has done many terrible things. She doesn't deny that, but that truly wasn't her. She doesn't feel that absolves her of any guilt but I do. She was a vampire then, and she's not now. I didn't really know her as a vampire for long, but I have known her as a person for much longer. I've known her long enough to know that except for my mother and sisters that she's the kindest, sweetest person that I've ever met. She's been nothing but loving and generous to my entire family even though she's not related to us by blood. She's tried to do nothing else but make up for what she did the entire time that I've known her, and I don't even feel that she's guilty of anything since it wasn't her. Haven't you ever done anything that you feel guilty about or are you Little Miss Perfect? Who are you to judge her?" Allison said as she passionately defended Ivy.

That's my girl.

Cara's anger faded along with the glow around her, and I saw a look of guilt cloud her own face. Allison's words had obviously struck a nerve with her.

"I truly am sorry and I would gladly die if it could undo everything that I had done," Ivy said.

"So would I," Cara admitted and then told us about some of the horrible things that she had done while she was Nimueh and had been possessed by the dark magic of the Triple Goddess.

"It looks like you two are more alike than you thought then," I said.

"I guess if I can get a second chance then you should too," Cara admitted to Ivy.

Ivy switched her perception filter back on and said, "Thank you."

"Besides that, you two pale in comparison to all of the death and destruction that I've caused. My track record could wipe the floor with both of yours combined," I said.

"That was war, Mum. That was different," Allison said.

"Not to me," I said.

Unknown to me at the time we were all being watched by an unearthly presence as the Triple Goddess themselves spied on us. I had apparently gotten their attention by my words, and now they had unfortunately taken a great interest in me.

"Do you recognize her, sisters?" The eldest member of the Triple Goddess said to the other two.

"Sekhmet, the greatest warrior of her universe," The youngest member, who sometimes called herself Alice, responded.

"Perhaps the greatest of any universe not to mention the Wolf's Mother and the grandmother of the one who dared to tamper with our world. If we could get someone such as her on our side, we would be unstoppable. With her as our new High Priestess to replace Nimueh, we could sweep away Merlin and his friends with ease. We need her on our side," the middle member of the group said.

"There will never be a greater time to do that than now when she's at her weakest. We must seize her and bind her to our will," Alice suggested.

"Agreed. Go and take her while she sleeps tonight. She will belong to us and through her we will rule this world. Not only this world but all worlds will worship us through the use of her TARDIS. All will bow down before us just as they should," the eldest member said.

"It will be done then, sisters. You can count on it," Alice said with a sinister smile on her face.

I, of course, knew nothing about this until later. At that moment, I was busy picking my new outfit instead. I didn't really have many options though since I was in the middle of whatever time that Merlin was in. There wasn't much choice of fashions back in the Dark Ages after all.

Still I thought that I did pretty well with what little I had as I was kindly granted access to whatever I wanted from Princess Morgana's wardrobe. I rummaged through her closets for something to fit the new me which wasn't so hard since Morgana was the same size as me now and soon found what I thought was a winning combination. I emerged with my new look and was greeting with stifled laughter and smirks from everyone who saw me.

I was now clad in a fantastic looking green dress reaching all the way to the ground made out of the most expensive silk that money could buy that was covered in fine jewels and embroidered with golden thread. On my head, I wore a small tiara made out of pure gold with a large ruby in the center of it. I looked every inch a Queen if I do say so myself.

Others had a different opinion of course.

"What are you wearing? You look like you just stepped out of a fairy tale," Allison said laughing.

"She looks like she was just made the Queen of a really hard-up country," Ivy joked.

"I think you look like you're trying to do a very bad impersonation of Morgana," Merlin said.

"Yes, she does. She does bear a certain resemblance to her though you must admit. I noticed it the instant that I saw her," Cara said.

"Now that you mention it, she does. They could be related," Merlin noticed.

I didn't see it myself but they weren't the first ones to bring it up. Several guards had mistaken me for Morgana on the way back to Gaius and Merlin's quarters. Even King Arthur had, and he grew up with her. I thought I looked much better personally.

"I think she looks incredible with or without the clothes," Robin said.

"Really?" I said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"I didn't mean it like that," Robin said blushing.

"I think it was a bit of a Freudian slip if you ask me. Thank you. R. Sorry. Robin! Thank you, Robin. When am I going to stop with the nicknames?" I said frustrated.

"It doesn't matter. I think it's cute," Robin said as he kissed me.

"Really? Thanks then, Robbie old boy, Robmeister, Robman, Robster. Do you want me to go on?" I asked him grinning.

"Please, please don't," Allison pleaded while I laughed and Robin kissed me again.

"I like her. She's crazy just like me," Sophia, the Sidhe girl, said as she watched us.

"No one's as crazy as you," Merlin joked.

He yelled as she punched him in the arm, and I laughed as I was reminded of the Doctor. Merlin reminded me a lot of him come to think of it except that he had more charm and wit and much better dress sense.

Then again any child over the age of two does.

Despite my protests, Gaius persuaded me to stay the night once again before leaving so that I would have plenty of rest. He also wanted to make sure that my fever didn't come back because fevers sometimes return especially at night. Fevers are worse at night for some reason.

I and many others would soon have cause to regret his actions.

As I slept in the TARDIS that night, I was visited by Alice. She had actually managed to breach its defenses. This shows just how powerful that the Triple Goddess must truly be since the TARDIS is virtually impenetrable.

Alice silently made her way to my side and then placed a powerful spell on me which in my weakened state completely submerged my will and made me into her mindless slave who was ready and willing to do anything that she asked of me. She then restored me to full strength and power. Just before she left, she gave me silent instructions in my sleep to kill Merlin once I woke up the next morning.

That morning as soon as I woke, I quietly left the TARDIS and snuck into Merlin's room. Unfortunately he hadn't been sleeping in the old TARDIS that now served as his magic school or I wouldn't have been able to approach him so easily. No, he had chosen to stay near me in case I needed his help, and now he was going to pay for that.

I approached his bed as he slept, and then I grabbed him by the neck and legs and held his body up over my knee. I'm surprisingly strong despite my appearance.

His eyes immediately snapped open and he cried out, "Lily, what are you doing?"

"I serve the Triple Goddess now, and they have commanded me to destroy you. Therefore, I must break you," I said in a cold monotone.

I then proceeded to raise his body up in the air as I prepared to break his spine over my knee while he screamed in fear.

Next: Will Lily be stopped from killing Merlin in time? Who could possibly stop her and how without killing her? Next time it's Lily versus the combined strength of her family and Camelot's greatest defenders for the fate of Albion.