Chapter Ten: When the world comes crumbling down (I've got you to piece it back together again)
Merlin was up and out of the door with Gwen's car keys before he even had enough time to realize he'd completely waked out with anger. It was not until he got to the hospital that he realized how hard he was shaking or remembered that he‘d been drinking for hours before hand. Everything felt all too familiar, the panicked voice, the terrible news, reassurances that it would all be alright. He ran his fingers through his hair and inhaled once to steady himself before clambering out of Gwen's tiny Citreon.
The hospital smelled like latex gloves when he rushed through the giant, looming, terribly familiar glass automatic doors. The nurse at the reception easily gave Merlin the information on Arthur's room (maybe she remembered him from last time, but Merlin couldn't bother to think too much on it).
When at last he made it to Arthur's hospital room, he had to take one last breath before pushing his way in.
Arthur was sitting nearly unharmed on a hospital bed. His shirt was wadded up next to him, a spot of blood on one of the sleeves, and his arm was cast with a tight sling supporting the weight.
"Merlin!" Arthur's voice was weak, as though he had been expecting Merlin to show up at any moment.
"I thought you said you only had a broken arm!" Merlin said ruthlessly and motioned violently at the shirt, his anger finally boiling over the edge.
Arthur gave the blood spot a quick sideways glance before shrugging. "I split my lip when I hit the wall."
"You... you hit a wall?!" Merlin asked, loud enough that he was sure that, should anyone be in the room next to them, they heard.
"Yes Merlin, I hit a wall," Arthur deadpanned.
"No, you punched a fucking wall? What, are you that much of a prat that you have to take your frustrations out on something that will beat you back?" Merlin seethed.
"What? That doesn't even make any sense! Why would I call you and ask you to stay home- specifically commanded you to do so- if all I'd done was punch a wall?" Arthur asked.
"Then... someone beat you up?" Merlin asked.
Arthur raised his good hand in exasperation. "That's what I've been trying to tell you if you would have just stopped blabbering on!"
Merlin flinched "I'm glad you weren't hurt badly."
With a fluid motion, Merlin stepped forward, leaned down, and kissed Arthur soundly on the lips. Arthur responded, his free hand somehow finding it's way to Merlin's back where he rested it gently. Merlin pulled away and leaned his forehead against Arthur's, slightly out of breath from the fluttering in his stomach.
"I couldn't bare to lose someone else," Merlin said and Arthur nodded so that Merlin's head bobbed with his.
The fluttering in his stomach died down and Merlin carefully moved onto the bed beside Arthur's good arm. He wrapped himself carefully around him and sighed into Arthur's ear. "I don't have to follow your commands, I'm not your servant," but he laid his head on Arthur's shoulder.
"Doctor says I can go after he gets back with some pain killers.”
"Does it hurt?" Merlin questioned, and went to move away, but Arthur quickly stopped him.
"Nah, I can handle it. I've had worse from bass strings snapping." Merlin laughed into his chest.
They sobered quickly.
"Who did this to you?" Merlin finally asked. He nearly toppled over when Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"I... think maybe I should tell you something," Arthur confessed. "Morgana wants the pub more than ever."
Merlin sat bolt upright and scooted to look Arthur square in the eye. "You're telling me that she did this to you?"
Arthur nodded. That was all Merlin needed for his magic to suddenly swell all the way to his fingertips.
"That fucking bitch," Merlin bit out.
"Hey! She's still my sister! I'm sure she didn't mean to do it-"
"How did she do it? Arthur, how could she have gotten the better of you?" Merlin asked, magic prickling at the deduction he made.
"I... I didn't really think about it-"
"She has magic." Merlin shot to his feet, "she has magic and she's using it as a weapon against me."
"But why?" Arthur asked. "How... how can Morgana have... magic?" He said the last word with a bite of disdain.
Merlin glared at him. "Magic is perfectly legal."
"Father doesn't like people who have magic, says it gives them the upper hand in the business world. Do you think he knows Morgana has it?" Arthur asked.
“I can’t let her get away with this. She murdered Gawain,” Merlin snarled, ignroing Arthur’s question, half ready to let his magic explode in any direction it pleased.
“She what?!” Arthur nearly shouted.
“Magic, I could feel it coming from my car the day I went to look at it. And when Morgana came to the pub the other evening I could feel it rolling off of her in waves.”
“You’re accusing her of murder Merlin-”
“How can you be surprised that she’d go to that length even after trying to seriously hurt you?! You’d be daft not to realize that she’s gone mental,” Merlin said, not sparing a moment to consider Arthur’s feelings on the matter, put immediately felt ashamed. “Oh god, I’m sorry Arthur.”
“She’s my sister,” he said quietly. “We had our fights, but... I don’t understand what could make her want to do all of this for a measly pub.”
“I don’t think this is about the pub,” Merlin said, something clicking violently in his mind. “Didn’t you say your father is against people of magic?”
Arthur nodded.
“Maybe it’s not about the pub at all,” Merlin said, but didn’t go on. Arthur sat up straighter on the bed.
The doctor entered boisterously as Merlin went to tell Arthur exactly what he intended to do to Morgana before realizing that might not be the best plan.
Merlin went to kiss Arthur one last time and said gently, "I'm going to go."
"Where-" but Merlin was already racing out of the door and heard the doctor accost Arthur with his final prognosis, twenty four hours of hospital stay due to a concussion. Merlin would have turned around to shout at Arthur for sparing him the details, but found himself preparing to accomplish something far more important.
*********************
It wasn’t hard for Merlin to find Camelot Construction. The building was massive, towering over the other tiny lots around with sparkling windows and sharp modern edges to the roof line. The billboard in front had been painted with a giant castle mimicking the more modern design. A few cows were grazing peacefully in a front lawn the color of tree moss. In the bottom corner he could see the Camelot Construction insignia, a yellow lion on a red placard. Merlin cursed the companies existance a few times under his breath as he let his magic prickle in anticipation of Morgana’s resistance to give in.
When Merlin entered the building it was bright with LED lights. He only took a moment to ponder this, having expected some eerie dark and dank local for someone like Morgana to plot for people's deaths. Then he immediately wondered how outrageous the electricity bill must be if the lights were on every hour, but when he turned to take the stairs-- he'd had too many bad experiences with lift-- he nearly had a heart attack at the darkness in the hallway until the lights clicked on when he entered.
"Motioned sensors," a voice said from above. Damn if Merlin didn't jump that time. "Scared you little man?"
Merlin ran up a flight even as he called out, "Morgana? I need to talk to you. Now."
"Morgana is busy right now," and suddenly the blond woman from the wreckage yard materialized in front of him. Merlin stumbled backwards, hastily grabbing at the railings so he didn't tumble over them and down a story.
"What the hell- who the fuck are you?" Merlin spat, heart beating in his throat.
The woman smiled crookedly, her pink lipstick leaving creases in the cracks of her lips,."Is that really relevant Mr. Emrys?"
"I damn well should think it is! You can't just appear in front of someone and expect them to not ask," Merlin hissed.
"You must be distracted," she said in response and turned. Merlin followed her instinctively. They went up two more flights of stairs, Merlin panting slightly behind her.
"Enough with the games, who are you? Where's Morgana?" Merlin bit out when they entered into a hallway on the fourth floor.
"Morgause, and I'm taking you to her. We've been waiting patiently," Morgause said with a slight trill in her voice.
They walked down the hallway at a brisk pace. The temperature in the room started to swell with Merlin's frustration.
"Control yourself, we don't want anyone else dead," Morgause suddenly snapped and Merlin realized his magic was unwillingly expressing his anger.
She guided him to a room at the end of the hallway adjoining a clear windowed conference room. The placard on the door read ‘Uther Pendragon’. Merlin didn't take a moment before he was barrelling past Morgause and into the room.
He stopped, magic bubbling out again.
"Merlin," Morgana said calmly from a tilted seat. Her legs were crossed and feet resting elegantly on the desk. She was holding a gently smoking martini glass and another sat, untouched, in front of her.
"Have a seat," she said, motioning with her free hand towards the chair in front of her. Merlin seethed.
"You know why I'm here," Merlin said, venom dripping in his voice. "Tell me, why the fuck are you doing this to me?"
Morgana sipped at her martini. Her red lipstick showed through the thin glass and green liquid as she smiled.
"I said sit," Morgana emphasised. She waved her hand and before Merlin could even know what happened the chair had shot behind him and pushed hard into the back of his legs so that he had to collapse backwards onto it.
"You," Merlin hissed, his magic about to push itself towards her until he reined it in. He couldn't imagine hurting someone with what his uncle had insisted was only intended for good.
"Me," Morgana said smirking as though she had practiced in front of the mirror for hours, "and you. Drink your martini. I swear, it's not poisoned. Though I was sorely tempted."
Merlin glared at her. "What do you want from me?"
Morgana uncrossed her legs and slid them off the table. She set the martini glass in front of her and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.
"I'm sure you realize that I have magic... unless you're more of an idiot than I give you credit for-"
"Don't fuck around, I have a serious mind to... to..."
"To what Merlin? Kill me?" Morgana laughed. "We both know you're too soft for that."
Merlin leaned forward and flicked the martini glass in front of her against the side wall with a simple focus of his magic to ensure that Morgana took him as a seriously threat. "You don't know anything about me."
"Well, well," Morgana said, another manic laugh escaping her. "Looks like we both have our family secrets."
"I'm not ashamed of it," Merlin countered.
"That I"m sure you're not," Morgana replied. "But not all of us have an uncle who hides magical texts in an underground library."
The air in the room pitched higher in temperature as heat rose in Merlin's cheeks. "You're the one who tried to ruin his life's work?"
"Oh Merlin, I didn't try to do anything. If I wanted them ruined I would have done so. No, that was just my simple challenge to you,"she smiled again. "It's nothing personal."
"How is that not personal," Merlin suddenly shouted. "You cursed my car. You killed my cousin."
"An unfortunate accident-"
"An accident?! You wanted me dead, my cousin was just an accident in your little scheme?" Merlin yelled. He shot from his seat with a combination of physical exertion and magical shove so that the chair flew backwards against the door behind him. He took a brief moment to ensure that it locked in place under the door handle.
“There’s something you should know about me Merlin,” Morgana said, not unkindly. “When I want something done, I don’t do it half arsed.”
Merlin took a moment to ponder this. “So... you did mean to kill Gawain then?”
She shook her head, the wild grin briefly turning down into a frown, “you misunderstand me. I had no intention of killing your cousin, but I did have Morgause curse your car.”
“That doesn’t justify anything,” Merlin said. “You’re still a murderer.”
Slowly, Morgana folded her arms in front of her. “If it makes you feel any better I was only trying to seriously injure you.”
Merlin snapped. He could feel his magic sweep down on Morgana. She shrieked once and then Morgause was suddenly in the room pinning Merlin against the wall a wave of her thin hand.
“Sister?” Morgause asked carefully.
“I’m alright,” Morgana said, catching her breath from the floor of the office. “He stopped himself before you came in.”
Morgause hesitated doubtfully for a moment and then looked Merlin up and down once before turning away and releasing him at the same time.
“Siblings in murderous action,” Merlin said once Morgana had re-sat on the chair and finished taking in deep breaths.
“Shut up,” Morgana snapped and snatched the martini that she had previously given to Merlin. She took a deep pull and then glared at Merlin.
“You, with your magic tricks,” she said. Morgause shot a glare over her shoulder at Merlin. She made her way around the desk and stood behind Morgana, a fierce look in her eye.
“They’re not tricks,” Merlin said defensively. Morgana shrugged.
“You learnt them from books and an old man retired from his ridiculous magic charades decades before you were even born,” Morgana hissed.
“Charades?” Merlin asked, drawing on patience so that his magic wouldn’t overcome him again and knock them both out of the window they sat in front of.
Morgause laughed, surprising Merlin into looking at her.
“You honestly didn’t know?” she asked and looked to Morgana, who nodded once, before continuing. “Your ‘honorable uncle’ was a doctor-”
“I was aware,” Merlin’s voice shook with anger, failing to understand why she would bring that fact to the forefront.
Morgause shot him a scathing glare. “Don’t make me force you to listen boy. You’re uncle wasn’t any doctor. Old man Gaius was the creator and administer of potions for magic.”
His jaw fell unwillingly open. He refused to believe this stranger, but just as he was about to start up in defense, Morgana cleared her throat.
“I was born with magic,” she said, “but when Uther adopted me he hired Gaius to create a ‘cure’-”
“But there is no cure,” Merlin said, suddenly sure that they were lying. “Gaius told me so himself!”
“No, there isn’t, but he managed to invent a potion that suppresses magic,” she said, eyes going half lidded with anger. “I was forced to live a life of lies because of your uncle and my father working together to sabotage those with magic.”
“But... I have magic,” Merlin said, the shock of the matter weighing him down. “He taught me everything I know about it. He taught me-”
“He was a liar,” Morgana shrieked. Morgause put a hand on her shoulder. “He cannot repent for the years of lies he fed me simply by teaching you of magic! My father hates me for who I am and Gaius allowed it!”
“I’m sorry,” Merlin whispered, and meant it. Having grown up using magic all his life he simply couldn’t place himself in Morgana’s shoes and imagine a life where those who were closest to him forced his magic away and lied.
“You’ve lived a life of bliss Merlin. You were allowed to be who you were born to be. I was not, and your uncle is to blame!”
“That’s what this is about?! Revenge? What is that going to solve?” Morgana rose from her chair.
“Revenge solves nothing,” she said, “but defeat solves everything. And Merlin, I repeat myself, I do not do things half-arsed.”
“You should have come to me, I could have tried to help,” Merlin whispered, stuck between a terrible medium of raged and pitty. “You didn’t have to do all those things.”
Morgana laughed. Morgause remained stone-faced behind her.
“You’re not my friend Merlin. You don’t know what it’s like,” she said, the loathing clear in her voice. “You don’t know what it’s like to be forced to live a life you weren’t supposed to. No, it’s too late. I’m going to take the pub down and destroy what Gaius has created.” She paused a moment, “everything.”
