InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Good luck"

Arthur Pendragon (a_royal_prat) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-05-21 01:00:00

Entry tags:

!@event, arthur pendragon, morgana

Who: Arthur and ~~Merlin~~Morgana
What: "..."
When: Shortly after learning this
Where: The library
Rating: Disturbing
Status: Incomplete

Arthur had waited as long as a location to leave. Getting to the library was priority, everything else was secondary. He flung himself down the streets with a single-minded determination that shoved everything, everything into the back corner of his mind. He had to find her. Nothing else mattered to him. There was nothing more important and if he ran down people as he moved, he never once noticed.

It wasn't until he reached the street with the library that he slowed, nearly stopping completely. What if he'd been lied to? What if she wasn't here? What would he do then?

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a_royal_prat
2010-05-21 06:59 am UTC (link)

"And what then?" Arthur's voice came out in nothing more than a whisper as he teetered on the edge of the curb, waiting for the right amount of compulsion to hit him and make him cross the damn street. But to cross the street would make everything real.

Ever since he had arrived here, one odd thing after the next had happened with no regards to anyone's sanity but to his knowledge no one had ever...

It would have been mentioned had someone...

Taking first his right foot and then left, he toppled off the curb and ran until the colors bled around him, until Morgana and her uncertainty was left on the far side of the street and he was slamming into the stone railing of the steps of the library, dizzy and reckless and most definitely not looking to see.

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future_seer
2010-05-22 04:06 am UTC (link)

She didn't know what to say. And then they found her. They would find her. Find her. If she was still alive. Morgana raised her hand up but closed it into a fist before touching his shoulder. She couldn't bring herself to answer his question because she knew just how much she was deluding herself. Closing her eyes very briefly, she takes a breath through her nose, forcing herself to calm.

She'd just opened her eyes when Arthur took his first step and was then running across the street, completely unaware of what he was doing. The idiot. She wasn't going to lose him too because he was too busy in pain to look where he was going. Maybe it was selfish. Yet that was what this was, what she was.

Morgana took after him. Stopping a bit further, a bit ahead of him. Not having the courage to turn around and hit him, because what she saw made her heart stop.

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a_royal_prat
2010-05-22 10:37 pm UTC (link)

Arthur crouched by Guinevere's still form, flicking a curl of hair from her inanimate face. Blood colored the steps beneath her from the hole in her neck that had long since stopped oozing. He tore the hem of his shirt in a long, uneven strip and gently dabbed at the flaking blood from her skin. Dropping the strip onto the steps, he carefully lifted her from the ground, cradling her in his arms like she'd fall apart if he wasn't more careful.

He lifted his chin and began to walk, leaving Morgana behind to follow or not.

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future_seer
2010-05-27 02:18 am UTC (link)

Morgana had always been one for long strides, which was why it didn't take her very long to reach him and take hold of his arm. Before quickly moving herself in front of him. The look on his face broke her heart into so many tiny pieces and she couldn't look down at Gwen in his arms. So she focused on looking at Arthur. "And what will walking into oncoming traffic solve?" The words came out more bit out than she intended. However, Morgana could be the most selfish creature and she would be damned if she lost both of them. Because he was careless. She was mourning too! She was hurt as well. Gwen might have been his wife but Morgana had loved her first. The woman might have been her sister now but she had been her best friend for years before Arthur even acknowledged her. And this wasn't a pissing contest about who could hurt the more or had the right to hurt the more. Except if they were going by that and she could hold it together, he could hold it enough to get across the street.

Then she would take care of everything.

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a_royal_prat
2010-05-27 02:24 am UTC (link)

There was no choice. It was either barrel through Morgana or stop. Arthur clenched his jaw and turned his head from her, breathing sharply through his nose. He didn't know what he was thinking, or where he was going only that it had to be away because nothing in this damned city made sense to him. He clutched Gwen tighter in his arms as if shielding her from Morgana's stare, like it mattered and Arthur.

He just didn't know what to do.

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future_seer
2010-05-27 03:56 am UTC (link)

She didn't either.

Her hand shook slightly as it went up and brushed the fringe from his face, her head tilting towards his face had turned and her eyes seeking his. "We'll .." She swallowed, and she was trying so very hard. Though at the moment she couldn't be sure for who anymore. "We'll figure this out." Her voice came out rougher, dry, so full of emotion but not much of anything at all. It was empty of most of the things that made her Morgana. The fire. The smooth sharpness. The musical clarity to her tone. "But right now, I need you to focus on carrying Gwe - her from this end to across it. Please. Just be careful. I'll be by your side." Please. She wanted to say again. But she didn't. Because, she reminded herself, she would have to be the one to keep it all together. And she would.

Morgana had just wanted him to see. To remember, that he wasn't alone. That he wasn't alone but he would have to allow her to help him. There was only so much forcing him to do so even she could manage.

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a_royal_prat
2010-05-27 05:40 am UTC (link)

Arthur swallowed and willed his arms and legs firm and steady the moment he realized they trembled. There were no words for the out of breath, gasping feeling in the pit of his stomach that was threatening to drive him to his knees. There was no room to dissect any of the millions of gnats buzzing loudly past his ears as Morgana spoke to him. Her expression was pinched and pained as he felt and he nearly shoved Gwen's body. God it was a body. There was no life in it. It was a hollow husk of one of the nicest people he'd ever known, the one person who he'd trusted with-

"Morgana." Arthur's head began to shake back and forth like a swinging pendulum that couldn't be stopped. His arms shook and shook and his head moved back and forth and his voice was a dry, rasped whisper. "I can't do this."

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future_seer
2010-05-27 05:50 am UTC (link)

Morgana clenched her fingers into her palm, nails biting for a moment before they reached out and steadied him. Steadied his arm, just held onto him. "Look at me, Arthur. Look at me. You are going to walk from here to across that street. You can do that." She wanted to hug him but that would mean crushing ... her. Gwen. Gwen. Gwen. Gwen. Gwen. Gwen. Morgana took out a gasping breath as she made her mind say it over and over again. She if she let herself become too detached she would go too far away. Away from this. Away from her mind. And they deserved better than that. All three of them did. Arthur. Gwen. Even Merlin. They .. she had to be where she was. It was Gwen. It was Gwen's body. It -- "Then I'll take care of the rest. I'll do it, Arthur. Just walk across the street. For me." She knew. She knew why he felt he couldn't do it. Not even that. And it was cruel to push him. Maybe. Yes, it was. Very likely so. However, they couldn't just stand there. They could just stand there with the b -- Gwen deserved better than people who would come to pass by and just stare at her.

And Morgana who always tried to give her as much as she could, would give her that much even in death. "Across the street Arthur. You don't have to do it alone."

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a_royal_prat
2010-05-27 03:53 pm UTC (link)

Arthur wanted to fall against Morgana and not move, let her hold him up, let her be the strong one for just a minute or so, but he couldn't even lift his head to ask for it.

"Where are we supposed to bring her?" At home, the answer would have been simple. They would have brought her to Gaius and then bound her in cloth and then set her upon a pyre but that wasn't what occurred here or they would have smelled it.

Arthur's knees were buckling out from under him and he only kept standing because Morgana had his arm and he didn't want to crush Gwen.

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future_seer
2010-05-27 04:07 pm UTC (link)

"To a ... to a funeral home." Morgana knew all about future funeral rights. "They'll prepare the body and they'll bury her." Her voice was surprisingly calm but just at the thought of placing Gwen under ground, her fingers tightened their grip around Arthur and her eyes - unknowingly - briefly shone gold. Causing windows to rattle and four lamp post, the first being about three lamp posts over, to have their bulbs and glass shatter.

Morgana flinched and her fingers tightened some more, possibly to painful levels, but she didn't waver. It was possibly not best to mention cremation until she could get a better handle on her emotions.

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	a_royal_prat 2010-06-01 08:00 pm UTC (link)
	The distant shatter of lights and glass barely fazed him and he met Morgana's gaze, breathing heavily through his nose. "Where is this place? This funeral home." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	future_seer 2010-06-05 05:36 pm UTC (link)
	"There are a few in the city. I don't have a clue which one is the best." Because her mind insisted that Gwen would receive the best. She pulled out her PDA and got the direction for the nearest one. "The closest one is about four blocks away from here." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

a_royal_prat
2010-06-05 05:39 pm UTC (link)

"We'll go there." There wasn't much choice. Arthur could carry Gwen to and from the underworld, if required of him. His arms weren't weakening, but his resolve was. Heat burned the back of his eyes and he sighed on a shudder.

"Find another while you're looking at that." Because much like Morgana, he refused to leave Guinevere with someone who would mistreat her form.

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	future_seer 2010-06-05 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	And she would follow at his side, to help. Morgana could take as much of this as she would have to for both Arthur and Gwen. She simply didn't want to and even if she could physically force herself, her emotional resolve not to waver, she didn't have that sort of strength over her powers yet. "Alright." She said in response to both. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	a_royal_prat 2010-06-05 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	Arthur tipped his head back and gazed up into the open night sky. His jaw clenched in increasingly frequent increments until he brought his gaze downward with a snap. His head was clearing like bindings from a wound and a trickle of self-awareness gripped him as he looked at his step-sister. "Morgana, I'm sorry." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

future_seer
2010-06-05 06:35 pm UTC (link)

Morgana didn't look at him. She didn't have to look or ask to know what he was talking about. "I know." She said, before adding. "I understand why and I forgive you for it. You don't have to apologize." When she looked at him, clear eyes held his. Though she she knew why she was a bit surprised that he actually had. "But thank you for apologizing."

Though her eyes narrowed slightly. If he was apologizing for Gwen - Morgana was rather certain he was apologizing for ignoring her feelings in this - she's smack him.

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a_royal_prat
2010-06-05 06:40 pm UTC (link)

He did. Had he not said it now, it would have been said later when neither of them could sleep. Arthur wanted to strangle Merlin for not being where he ought, but having Morgana here was a blessing in itself, even if it was the least favorable pairing.

He hitched Gwen in his arms and stared off, past Morgana's head down the orange lit streets. They needed to get indoors before the same fate befell them.

"Four blocks?"

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future_seer
2010-06-06 03:31 am UTC (link)

"Four blocks." She affirmed. Her eyes peeled the road before she gave Artur a short warning, "I'll hail a cab." and ran a bit into the street. Flagging the passing cab. When the vehicle stopped Morgana pulled out what money she had, not all of it but hopefully enough, and ordered, "Take us to the closest funeral home. Don't ask any questions." The cab driver cut his eyes to her, Gwen's body, and she looked as if she was about to argue. Until she cast her eyes on Arthur and nodded.

"Alright." The woman said.

Morgana turned to look at Arthur.

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a_royal_prat
2010-06-06 03:39 am UTC (link)

Arthur noticed nothing so much as the heavy stillness of Gwen's body draped along his lap and tucked within his arms. The wounds on her neck were congealing and grotesque in a manner that had Arthur reaching for her hair to cover them as rapidly as he could gather fistfuls of it.

She could be sleeping peacefully the way Arthur held her. The bow of her lips was curved in a slight smile that would stay that way permanently. Arthur's shoulders shook as he bowed his head until their foreheads met and the coolness of her skin finally set every aching part of him into action until tears were falling heedlessly down his cheeks.

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