CHAPTER 70
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LILY VERSUS HERSELF IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
"Lily, put him down!" Robin shouted as he instantly came into the room.
Luckily he hadn't been too far away. Just hearing his voice made me hesitate. Thankfully even the Triple G couldn't break the power that my love for him had over me.
"She's not gone Sekhmet again has she?" Allison asked in fear as she entered the room next.
"No, not this time. This time is different. Look at her eyes. It's like she's been drugged or hypnotized," Robin said.
"Or put under a spell," Merlin said from his precarious position just above my knee.
He began to chant what I assume was a spell of some kind, but it had no effect on me whatsoever. Then he chanted another one and another. Nothing.
"Your magic's not doing so hot, is it? If it wasn't for Dad, you'd be toast right now," Allison observed.
"Thanks so much," Merlin said groaning.
"He could have already freed himself from her very easily if he had tried his more destructive spells. He's trying not to hurt her," Cara said behind Allison.
"I appreciate that, Merlin. I'm sorry. I'm just worried. I make wisecracks whenever I'm worried or nervous," Allison admitted.
"That must be all the time then," Ron said.
"Not now, Ron. This is serious," Isabella said.
"Sorry. I make wisecracks when I'm worried too, Izzy," Ron said.
"I've tried every kind of counter spell that I can think of. Do you any of you have any way of controlling her? If you don't then, I'm going to have to take a risk of hurting her. I don't want to, but I don't want to die either if she decides to suddenly break my back," Merlin said.
"Lily, let him go," Robin said.
"Mum, drop him," Allison said near tears as she worried about what form that Merlin's more destructive spells might take.
I really wanted to but I couldn't. I was watching the whole thing but I was definitely not in the driver's seat. It was like watching a television show about my life only I was trapped inside of it and unable to change it.
A television show about me? How cool would that be?
Ignore that last statement while I silently weep in the corner.
"Mum, you've got to snap out of it. You don't want the Triple Goddess to win do you? Do you really want someone else messing around with your mind? Didn't you get enough of that with Rassilon?" Aishwana said.
They all smiled as I visibly twitched at the mention of his name. No, I definitely did not want to become someone's mind controlled puppet. I tried my best to fight it. I really did but it just wasn't enough. The Triple G's magic was strong. Way too strong even for me to overcome.
"Lily, I won't let you do this. I will fight you. You know that, don't you? Do you want to take the chance of hurting me? You really don't want to do that do you? I'm your oldest friend," Ivy said hoping that this appeal to our friendship would reach me somehow.
It did but it still wasn't enough to help me break free. All this did was just torture me more because I couldn't do anything about what was going on.
That was when things went from bad to worse.
"Let him go!" Arthur shouted as he entered the room with his sword drawn.
"Arthur, no! You'll just make things worse," Merlin said but the stubborn king ignored him.
"That's it. I tried to warn you," Arthur said as he took the blunt side of his sword and whacked me across the head with it.
"Oh, no. He's done it now," Holly said.
"She's going to go Sekhmet, isn't she?" Skaren said frightful.
"Not yet," Violet assured him.
Arthur whacked me on the head and all over the body several times, and I realized what he was trying to do. He was trying to snap me out of the spell without hurting me too badly. It was his Code of Chivalry in action you see.
Unfortunately, all it did was make me very, very angry.
"Look out!" Violet warned as she more than anyone knew from the look on my face what was coming next.
Arthur however was too slow to react and so he didn't dodge the massive punch in the jaw that I gave him in time. I held onto Merlin with one arm while I continued to pummel Arthur with the other.
To his credit, he wouldn't fight back. He just kept absorbing the punches as he said, "How could she be so strong?"
"You seem to have that effect on everyone, Arthur," Morgause, Arthur's fiancé and Cara's daughter, said with a chuckle as she entered the room.
Then she sprang into action as she started to attack me with her sword without hesitation. She was striking to wound instead of kill, but it didn't make any difference to me what her motivations were. The pain from the many cuts just made me even angrier.
I lashed out at her and easily knocked her across the room with a single blow.
"Morgause!" Cara screamed as she finally started to attack me out of anger with a massive mystic bolt that made me scream out in pain.
"Hey! It's not her fault!" Ivy shouted as she came to my defense and pushed Cara down.
"You would defend her, wouldn't you? I never should have accepted your apology," Cara said as she attacked Ivy with a mystic bolt next.
I had to admit that I should have known that Cara wouldn't let go of the death of her friend that easily. Even Allison isn't that good.
"Stop it! This is just making things worse," Merlin said.
"As usual, it's up to me to save the day it seems," Sophia said as she aimed her Sidhe staff at me and fired a bolt of energy out of it that sent me reeling.
"Stop it! All of you stop trying to kill her!" Allison shouted as she punched Sophia in the face.
"I was using a stun blast," Sophia protested.
"So was I if anyone cares," Cara said from where she stared down Ivy with a death glare as she waited for her to make the next move.
"Let's leave our personal fight aside until Lily's okay," Ivy said.
"Agreed," Cara said in what almost sounded like an apologetic tone.
"Good because I don't want anyone fighting over me. I'm okay. She pulled her punch I think," Morgause said as she slowly came over to them.
That was when Morgana entered and said, "What on Earth is all the shouting about? Oh."
"Move out of the way, Morgana," Cara warned.
It was already too late though. I was already in a blind rage at that point, and I attacked her just like I did her sister earlier. This time I had a surprise though.
As soon as my fist came near her, Morgana's eyes lit up with power, and a mystic shield surrounded her that sent a massive shock through my body as soon as I came into contact with it. It was just like being hit by a cattle prod. I immediately jumped back as I yelled in pain.
Just for a moment, I was myself again and I said, "More. Do it more."
Then I was back under the spell once more, but Merlin had noticed my reaction. The mental gears in his mind had already started spinning. He was already beginning to come up with a plan.
Everyone looked at Morgana in surprise as she said with a proud smile, "I've been practicing."
"Everyone hit her at once. Maybe we can bring her back to her senses," Cara said.
"No, wait. I don't think that's such a good idea," Merlin said.
He had finally decided on what to do to save himself based on what had happened to me when I touched Morgana's force field, but he didn't have time to carry it out before the other sorcerers all attacked in unison. Cara, Sophia, Morgause, and Morgana all fired mystic bolts of energy at me at once as they attempted to shock me back to my senses. All it did though was to make me even angrier than I was before.
So angry in fact that I became Sekhmet.
"Oh, frak!" Violet said as she realized what was happening before anyone else did.
"Run, you idiots!" Allison shouted at the sorcerers as she realized it too.
None of them moved in time though. I immediately attacked all of them within arm's reach of me and knocked them out cold in a matter of moments. Now I didn't even feel anyone's attacks as I marched forward in my maddened state.
Merlin decided to finally try his plan as he called forth a massive bolt of lightning from the sky. It tore through the roof above us and scored a direct hit on me. Both of us screamed in agony as the electricity flowed through him as well.
This time though the only effect that the lightning had on Sekhmet was to make her drop Merlin. It didn't snap her out of the spell though unfortunately. It was better than nothing though.
Arthur, who had been just out of my reach before and hadn't been attacked, rushed forward and dragged a stunned Merlin to safety. Meanwhile I was too busy fighting with everyone in sight to even notice that Merlin was suddenly missing.
"What do we do now?" Ron cried out in exasperation as everyone ran in terror from me.
"I have an idea. It may just make things worse, but I have to try," Violet said.
"No, don't!" Robin said as he guessed what she was going to do just from the look in her eyes.
Violet ignored him as she marched right up to me and evaded my every attack while she said, "That's it, Sekhmet. Just let yourself get used again, why don't you? That's all you're good for, isn't it? You're just a mindless raging berserker, and that's all you are in the end, isn't it? You could be so much more, but all you can do is hold onto the anger and rage of the past. That's exactly how others can control you every time. They use it against you and make you hurt the people that you care about with it. Do you think that Mum would be proud of you? Do you? Would Dad? Would our brother and sister? Is this their legacy? Is this all that they are to you? I'll tell you what. They would be ashamed of you. Our mother would cry and look away in shame!"
That did it. I went berserk then and started coming at her with everything that I had. Fists went flying at lightning speeds all around Violet as she ducked and dodged each and every one of them. She was probably the only person who could since she knew better than anyone what move that I was going to make next even in my angriest state.
"That's it. Fight me. Fight me! That's all you're good for anyway. You're a loser, Sekhmet. You always were," Violet said.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I screamed as I tried in vain to hit her.
I finally collapsed on the ground in tears as Sekhmet went away, and the spell on me was finally broken. Violet had done it. She had used my own inner voice to help me break free from the spell at last.
You see everything that she said is what I say to myself in my weakest moments. A lifetime of hardship and suffering can do wonders to demolish your self-image after all.
As I sobbed away, Violet said, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it."
Robin came up to me and took me in his arms as he said, "It's not true. None of it is. You're the best person that I know. You've helped make me better and everyone else around you. We're all better off from having known you."
Having been affected by what they saw, Cara and Ivy looked at one another and both said, "I'm sorry."
"I know that you're not that same person anymore now. I have to realize that and let the past go. None of this pointless fighting and grudge holding does anyone any good. I know that now," Cara said.
"I wish you every success on that. I'm still working on that personally. Only my anger is all directed at myself," Ivy said.
Cara finally forgave her while Ivy still struggled to forgive herself. I wondered if I ever would forgive myself. I still blamed myself for many things including the deaths of my family even though I had nothing to do with it and couldn't have done anything to stop it.
As Robin continued to hold me and I let my pain out, the Triple Goddess observed the whole thing with anger. They had come so close to making me into their new almost unstoppable servant and yet had still failed in the end.
"She was simply too unpredictable, and her will was too strong in the end. She's too old and stubborn to be successfully controlled anyway. Next time we need to find someone young and naïve," the oldest of the Triple Goddess said.
The other two members nodded their heads in agreement, and they all finally gave up on attempting to control me at last. I know that you're wondering how I know this, and it's because I was told by someone who was in the know much later on. That's another story for another time though.
Back at Camelot, I stood up after having cried myself out of tears for a while and apologized to everyone there as I said, "I'm so sorry. It wasn't me. Not really."
"It's okay, Lily. We know that none of this was your idea," Merlin said smiling at me.
"Now I can see exactly what kind of trouble that you've been putting up with here. No wonder Jenny's always checking up on you," I said.
"It is tough but we've managed to make it through somehow. I think we do alright myself," Merlin said.
"We do better than alright. We have them on the run. That's why they picked Lily. It's because they're getting desperate," Cara said.
"Thanks," I said grinning.
"You know what I mean," Cara said laughing.
"I think that we should go now while we're ahead. Goodbye everyone and good luck against those three. If you ever need any help in the future . . . call Jenny. No offense," I said laughing.
"None taken. Goodbye, Lily. I hope that the next time that we meet it's much more pleasant," Merlin said as he and the others waved goodbye to us.
"I still can't believe that we all got so soundly beaten by her. I mean she doesn't look like all that much," Arthur grumbled.
"You're just mad that you were beaten by a girl," Morgause said.
"A girl that looks like me," Morgana added with a smile.
So even she thought so. I don't get it. I'm much cuter.
"I am not. I'm mad that we were beaten at all. She made us all look like amateurs," Arthur complained.
"What part of greatest warrior in her universe did you not understand? Admit it, Arthur. You're mad because you were beaten by a girl even an extremely powerful one," Merlin taunted.
"You know just because you've moved up in the world doesn't mean that I won't still put you in the stocks, Merlin. I've created a special kind of stockade that even your magic can't help you out of just for such an occasion," Arthur said with an evil grin.
"You're bluffing," Merlin said.
"Care to try me?" Arthur shot back.
I chuckled as they continued to fight behind me. I would really miss this place. Apart from the whole nearly dying and then being turned against my friends and family thing of course.
As we all went back to the TARDIS, I could see Violet looking away from me in shame. I immediately went over to her and said, "It's okay. I'm not angry at you."
"That doesn't make me feel any better. It's brought up a lot of bad feelings for me too," Violet admitted.
"She would be proud of both of you," Robin said.
"You really think so?" I asked.
"I know so. Could you ever truly be ashamed of anything that Rose, Allison, Ron, or Aishwana did as long as they were doing the best that they could to make up for it and tried to be better people in the future?" Robin asked.
"No, of course not. I love them and I'd always forgive them for anything no matter what. Not that they've ever given me any cause to complain," I said.
"There's your answer then," Robin said.
Violet and I both smiled at him and I said, "You always know what to say every time to make me feel better. How do you do that?"
"I learned it from you," Robin said with a huge grin.
As we kissed, I could swear that I heard my mother laughing with joy once again just as I had not too long ago. I quickly looked around me in the vain hope of catching some kind of glimpse of her somewhere.
Violet smiled at me as she said, "It's not just you. I heard it too."
Both of us smiled at each other as we dared to hope that it could be true.
Next: Lily returns to her job at Oxford in the nineteenth century only to find herself caught up in the middle of a new adventure as she discovers that a deadly new menace stalks the streets of London as stories spread everywhere of a giant insect preying on people in the night. Lily barely has time to acquaint the Paternoster Gang with her new appearance before they're all caught up in solving this new mystery. Can she do it in time to save London from a massive alien invasion?