Uther crawled to the wall, hand over hand, crying in fear.
Merlin stood firm, face to face with him now. The smokey tears were gone, as the fire that burned him within had been put out. Now his face was hard, and cold, but still much more like his own under the dark hood. He held onto the scythe. The ice had melted from Merlin's hands.
"My lord...Arthur...did the lady summon you from the Underworld to force you to do her bidding?" Merlin squared his jaw at the cruel prospect he had implied.
"Nay, Emrys. It was you who summoned me."
Merlin stared at him in wonder.
"I don't understand."
Arthur raised his head and studied him.
"In the Crystal Cave, where you were bound in eternally repeating fate? You were bound to fate, to closing and opening doors throughout the ages that led to Author's destinies, because you were trying to reach me at the bottom of the Coil of the Fates. But I am the Gatekeeper, my lord Emrys. There was no reaching me through Life. You must come to me in Death. So long that you lived an immortal life, bound to Nimueh in that regard, I was out of reach. But when your own magic destroyed your body, and sent you shattering through Death, you entered the realm where I live, and you pulled me to you. As I told you, an immortal life must be given so an immortal life can be spared. Your death summoned me from death, but you are immortal Emrys, so even after you had died and paid the pledge to summon me, you were revived by the very magic that killed you..." Gatekeeper Arthur smiled.
Merlin studied him for a long moment, perplexed.
Uther chattered his teeth from the floor, having grown cold and sobbing.
"Are-Are you evil then...or good?" Uther was shaking now, pathetically. Arthur turned to look at him, and his face showed signs of pity.
"I am neither evil nor good. I am only he who stands guard over the flow of the Spirits from the Underworld. Nimueh will destroy you by forcing you to face them. The legions you sent to my domain...It is she who abuses the power she took from the last Gatekeeper to summon them. As the Once and Future King of Albion, and Silent Watcher of the road between the Worlds, I am merely here a Spectator, a channel to your demise and shepherd of the Dead." Arthur pressed the Scythe into the ground. He then tilted his head, and locked eyes with Merlin.
"But she means to pervert them. Even as she summons them, she means to turn them. To destroy them...There is but one way to put them back right. To keep them from being twisted and turned into vile shape. The Blood of Willing Heart. The courage that cannot be denied..."Arthur blinked, and tears of blood began to fall down his cheeks. Uther shuttered back a sob.
Merlin knew in his heart already who it was.
"So, this is what she meant when she told Emma Swan that she would come to her willingly to sacrifice herself on Arthur's Stone. Either Emma will die, and shed the Blood of Willing Heart to protect all of Albion from becoming High-Wraith Dorocha, or Nimueh will have won, destroying all of the kingdom and bringing the legend of Arthur Pendragon into darkness. But in the end, even should the Savior win, it will be a pyrrhic victory. It is either the twisting and perversion of all the world, or the Savior must choose to put a stop to the Witch and heal the wound she tore into the world with her life." Merlin spluttered around his words, mortified.
Arthur studied him, face still cold and distant, under the daze of spiritual persona he had just taken on.
"When the time is right, and she is faced with no other choice, Emma Swan will walk willingly to Arthur's Stone. Then, Nimueh will use the power she stole from the Last Gatekeeper, and will draw Emma Swan's blood into my dominion, where the curse will be appeased. But what becomes of Emma Swan, who is to say...for her life will not be trade to mine, I was dead by the design of such a trade, so it cannot happen...Emma will be wholly spent, and be as if she had not been born."
Silence fell over the balcony. Thunder rolled in the distance as a hole in the Spirit World opened when Arthur had woken up under the Moon to realize who he was in Nimueh's scheme snapping closed. All at once, a smoke rolled over him again, and Arthur stood panting, dressed as he had been before, holding his heart that was flailing in his chest.
"Merlin...what?" Arthur hissed, and passed out, falling into his dear friend's arms.