InsaneJournal

WHO: Morgana, Gwaine, npc!child named 'Becca, and Merlin (who shows up at the end but is mentioned throughout)
WHERE: Morgana's room then the streets of Colligo.
WHEN: Early, early this morning
WHAT: Morgana has a vision. Morgana acts on it without back up. Morgana dies but she saves people! So, that's good.
Status:Closed/Complete
RATINGS: PG-13/low R to be safe.

She twitched, restless in her sleep with her lovely features contorted in distress. Things echoed in her mind that she didn't understand, that she couldn't quite figure out. Coupled by the all too familiar sensation that overtook her when she dreamed of death. Morgana turned in her sleep.

She was used to this; nevertheless, it was amazing what a body could become accustomed to in such a short time. Having nights after nights of undisturbed sleep had been - well, to make a a bad pun ... a dream come true - recuperating. For as long as she could remember Morgana had nightmares. And while they hadn't always been about death they very rarely were about something good. Delightful. They were ever-changing because the future was ever changing. At times they were specific images from time. Like a specific frame, a clip from a movie. Most of the time they were cloudy, just snap shots of danger. Maybe if she was extremely, extremely lucky of joy. More than a handful of times they were of the mundane. Yes, the mundane, because even the regular moments had a grander purpose.

Almost always they were about Arthur. Had been nonstop since she moved to Camelot. Before that they had been about her father. That didn't mean that she didn't have dreams of other people.

Even here in Colligo. After all, once upon a time, she had dreamed Gwen being hurt.

The dreams tended to come a bit less in Colligo but they still came. More about other people and less about Arthur. It led to a confusion on whether this was a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, she didn't get to add the million, three hundred, and forty sixth way that her brother could possibly die to her vast pile of morbid methods. Yet on the other, people in the bloody city needed to sit down and stay away from dishwashers, cars, mops, food, oil, fire, water, children, animals, air, themselves, and the list went on and on and on and it was any wonder that she hadn't gone mad. Then again, if forseeing the death of her father - and having everyone including him ignore her - and knowing a million, three hundred, and forty-five possible ways for Arthur to die hadn't done so already and she was nearly twenty-five ... why would the deaths of a bunch of complete strangers do so?

So, yes, the visions were a nuisance. And the bracelet was heaven-sent. Except for the fact that it worked far too well. She hadn't seen this coming.

Not that it mattered any, if she had. What would she have been able to do? Their arrival was inevitable it seemed. That's what she told herself and no, it didn't help her sleep at night but then again nothing much had since the arrival of the Toclafane. Because Morgana had taken off the bracelet the night of their arrival.

She had far too many people who would go off to do something stupid. And she needed to know to warn them or stop them. Or on the off chance her nightmare, vision, came while it was happening -as they were wont to do in this place - head them off in time and kill them herself.

Morgana refused to lose anyone else.

The vision hit her like all of the more startling ones. Like a freight train. It had her jerking off of her, gasping in a sharp breath and holding it in, as her eyes searched the darkness frantically. Seeking to reassure herself that she was awake. Only when Morgana was certain that something wouldn't pop up bleeding or screaming did she let out that breath, only to draw in a few more sharper ones through her nose. It gave her mind some time to put the pieces together and gave her time to decide on an action.

Which was to react.

She pushed out of bed and didn't even waste time dressing herself, still in her nightgown. Just stuffing her arms into her thick coat and her feet into her snow boot. She squatted down and grabbed her sword.

Yes. Her sword. It was the most unpractical thing to grab but it grounded her. Morgause hadn't been lying when she said how important the sword was. The other woman was a powerful sorceress but her sword was a large part of her. Morgana had been raised on the sword the same way most people were raised on dolls. Someone else might have grabbed their stuffed animal but Morgana grabbed her sword.

Morgana was half-way out the building when it struck her that her dagger would have made her feel just as secure and it certainly would have made her seem less ridiculous.

No matter. No time to waste. She kept to the shadows as best as she could and hurried as quickly as possible to find Gwaine.

This had been a ridiculous idea. Even for Gwaine who usually rushed head first into impossible odds recognized this was a fight not worth entangling himself. For starters he was not so talented that lightning could shoot out of his fingers, the one weapon against these flying metal creatures. For second, those weapons wielded by the flying menaces were far greater than his human flesh could withstand, even just once. But Merlin had an idea… or something, as usual Gwaine didn’t delve too deep into the details, but it required leaving the confines of the warded buildings and Gwaine was stuck to the younger man, the fly in Merlin’s honey. And who didn’t like a challenge?

Only the challenge had escalated beyond Gwaine’s skill set when he and Merlin became separated.

Gwaine wasn’t sure how it happened. The poor lighting, those creatures had done a number on all the flashing lights that had been strung up before Gwaine’s arrival. The city was dark. And Merlin was surprisingly agile and quiet on his feet. Not really a bad thing if you didn’t want deadly monsters knowing your whereabouts, a bad thing if you were trying to stay together. And one blink, one dodge behind a dumpster to keep cover from a flock of metal balls and shadows even the still close to full wanning moon didn’t illuminate and the younger man was no where to be seen.

He did panic for the briefest of moments, what if Merlin had fallen victim to those metal things? But Merlin was a resourceful fighter; at the very least enough noise to wake the dead would have announced his discovery. No sounds meant a good thing. Now it was just a matter of finding Merlin without drawing attention to himself, not once thinking he should turn back and leave his friend out on his own.


This constituted as something silly. Morgana had dismissed Gwen's words. Not that she hadn't tried to be careful. She had done rather well not bursting out there whenever she saw the death of someone she had once worked with. She was always careful. And never silly right?

Except Morgana had underestimated the times that she didn't think things through. For someone so intelligent she could be so very stupid. When it came to her emotions, to what she thought and felt was right, there was hardly any thought to consequence. Just what she wanted and the now.

Some times though, it wasn't that selfish. There were times where her mind really did just shut down and she let her emotions carry her. And for someone who could convey ice quite well, Morgana had quite the set of emotions. They could take her the distance.

Usually they took her running like mad in her nightgown: down the stairs to the castle courtyard, across the hall to her brothers door, or in this case into the city's streets. Thoughts only on what she had to do and never on the consequence.

This is the first time though that the possible danger had been beyond that to possible harm to her virtue. This certainly wasn't the first time that Morgana had had to calm herself on her own, nor the first time that she wished that she was much more detached from her nightmares. She wasn't the type of person who was frantic or went around running around in her nightgown with a sword and snow boots. Morgana was all for saving people but unlike certain people in her family she generally liked to have a plan. She was the one with great plans and even better advice. Not the one who went charging. Not that that it hadn't happened before. Oh, it had nearly a handful of times. Thanks to the nightmares.

Morgana whispered a spell, her eyes growing gold, and a small ball of light hovered in front of her. Nothing to large, and hopefully wouldn't gain attention, just enough to see in front of her.

She should have checked that they were in their rooms. They. Because she had seen Gwaine die but she just knew Merlin was out there. Morgana never saw Merlin in her dreams. Never, ever in Camelot and while there were moments that she saw something similar to him, here in Colligo, it was quite rare. She couldn't even begin to guess why. Other than the fact that it was frustrating. For a number of reasons. Nevertheless, despite not having seen him, she knew that he was here.

It was this feeling that she had in the pit of her stomach. Just as she had this feeling that the dream would be coming true now and tonight.

Except what if she was wrong?

Morgana hadn't given herself time to think about that.

Carefully she kept her eyes peeled and her senses as aware as possible for a human. Checking around her and in stores, sticking to the walls.

Luckily, Morgana didn't have to go too far. She spotted a person but she wasn't sure who it was.

"Gwaine?"

Morgana heard a whimper. A whimper that was very much not Gwaine. At least she hoped that it wasn't. If it was, Morgana would have to question Arthur on how he picked his knights. Then again she could certainly admit that flying monkey things fell more than a few categories below flying spheres of destruction.

"It's alright." She said gently, carefully approaching. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She paused when she stepped on something. Looking down and spotting quite a few piles of ash. Air pulled itself into Morgana's lungs as she jerked backward, her eyes wide in horror. Swallowing, she forced herself to calm down and continue on forward. "It's -" The rest of the words where caught in her throat as something - or rather someone - darted out and wrapped their arm around her.

Automatically, her hand went up and brushed back the hair from the little girl's wet face. Mentally cursing herself as something cleared itself in her mind.

She had seen Gwaine dying, calling Merlin, and he had been protecting something. This little girl was clearly that something. She should have woken up Morgause. She was clearly out of her league.

Morgana had known that but ...

Now she didn't know what to do. Obviously take the child to safety. Nevertheless, did she hope that doing that would mean that Gwaine would find Merlin? Did she hope that it meant that her .. friend would find the knight and protect him? Morgana couldn't in good conscious further endanger the child. Nor could she in good conscious just leave Gwaine out there without any protection.

She knew the spells. She just had to hope that she could do it. That they didn't drain the hell out of her.

Morgana managed, through years of balancing and measuring her emotions, to keep her frustration down and exude calm. To soothe and check the little girl for injuries. But frustrated she was. Morgause kept telling her how she knew how powerful Morgana would one day be. There were stories upon stories about what she should be. The most powerful sorceress to have ever lived. An equally powerful healer. And a seer to reckon with. Who she was was a girl who had difficulty mastering spells and whose visions that she'd had forever couldn't explain to her how she was supposed to save the people that were meant to be helped.

Jerking her head upward at a sound, Morgana let out a relieved sigh. "Gwaine."

Wait a second ... If the girl was here and Gwaine was so very suddenly here ..

Grabbing the girl's arm, "Come along, sweet heart. Follow me. Don't argue, I'll explain along the way." She ordered the knight.

Gwaine slipped through shadows and between buildings for a good while before he came across the girl. She couldn’t have been more than eight years old, and had clearly seen better days, as had they all. She had yelped when she saw Gwaine, and it was a miracle the sound had attracted no unwanted attention. Gwaine spent the better part of ten minutes trying to get her to calm down enough to speak to him, something he recognized was necessary if they were going to move.

“I’m Gwaine, what’s your name?” He asked when the girl’s sobs had subsided to soft hiccups.

“’Becca,” the girl managed between gasps of air.

“That’s a lovely name, Becca,” Gwaine continued in as quiet a whisper as possible. Not once did he stop scanning for signs of those metal balls, which were blessedly no where in sight. “Where are your parents?”

That might be a futile question with a rather obvious answer. But Gwaine had to ask. He knew he couldn’t just leave the girl to the same fate most everyone in the city had suffered, but he needed to find Merlin, and a girl would be a burden. If her parents were near, and alive, that would solve the latter problem.

Becca only shook her head in response. Well that settled it.

“You wait right here,” he nodded to a spot between some boxes in the alley, “I’m going to go check around the building corner, for it to be safe, alright?”

The girl stood there for a number of seconds, seeming to evaluate his sincerity.

“I’ll just be over there and then we’ll find some place safe, promise,” Gwaine tried again. Every second spent here was a potential waste, Merlin still needed to be found.

This seemed to do the trick and the girl walked over to the spot along the wall and huddled down, clutching her knees. Gwaine didn’t pause a moment before creeping to the edge of the alley and peering around the corner for signs of life. The darkness made it all but impossible to see much beyond lumps and shapes. But those things had lights on their metal spheres, at least he would be able to see those if there were any. There were not.

But a sudden glow behind him had him whirling around, afraid he’d missed their approach from the other end.

“Morgana?!” He hissed, certainly surprised to see her here.

Things had not started well for the two of them, and Gwaine considered he had good reason. The Morgana he knew was cruel and wicked, power hunger and revenge driven, willing to sacrifice just about anyone to get her way. Here, in Colligo, Gwaine saw someone different. Before this week they did not speak but just that once, and it was to set boundaries for the other to not cross. But at the start of this week, with the invasion, Gwaine couldn’t help but notice a certain lack of evilness in Morgana, she was helpful, appalled at the atrocities these metal spheres were rendering on the city, and she exhibited a genuine care for those around her. It was odd and difficult for Gwaine to reconcile, but as long as she was directing her energies against a common enemy he had very little to say. He kept his thoughts to himself, having learned from Merlin his first night that no one came from Gwaine’s time and had witnessed the same things he had and it just wouldn’t do to try and turn their opinions of the woman. Plus, they needed every able body, and Morgana was a powerful able body at that, to stand against these metal monsters.

Something to think about when this was all over.

The appearance of her, however, in her night shift, was rather unsettling, bordering on crazy. Even with her stunning beauty, not something he would complain about if the situation were different, and perhaps she were a different woman, but now, unnerving. Oddly, the sword Gwaine took as a matter of course and necessity, he longed for one himself.

She had a sword, she could do magic, crazy or not she was a stronger bet than Gwaine alone, who had neither weapon nor magical talent. He followed without complaint.

“Might I know how and why you are here? Did Merlin send you?” He kept his voice as low as possible, years of practice in and out of trouble made this one of his particular talents.

Morgana had had the ridiculous hope that quite possibly he would know where Merlin was. After all, if she could be silly enough - carelessly reckless enough - to run out with a sword while the place swarmed with things that could kill her in an instant, why couldn't she be capable of fruitless desires? She shook her head sharply in the negative. "I had a nightmare. A vision. It told me to be here and I came." That wasn't an exact lie but nor was it the exact truth. However, Morgana knew better than to say more when there was a child involved. And she found that people didn't react well when she told them of their probable death. Strangely enough not with panic and fear, but by dismissing her. Gwaine might know that she had magic but she doubted he knew about her nightmares. Furthermore, she highly doubted that he would believe that she had a vision staring him and had come to save him. Yes, of course, she had mostly come for Merlin. But for him as well. She was Gorlois' daughter by heart if not by blood. Her father had been quite the valiant knight. Saving people was what he used to do.

Morgana's sense of what was right was much more skewed than what should be "normal" but it was strong enough, good enough, that even if Gwaine had been standing on his own. Protecting nothing. She would have done her best to try to help him.

"I ... I followed my ..." Followed her what? Her adrenaline? Her gut? Instinct? Wild, blind, hope that she would find him? Morgana just let the sentence drop, keeping a firm grim on the girl and allowed the floating light to show a clear way. "This way." She whispered, retracing her steps.

Divining dreams? Well that just rounded out this whole bit of craziness, now didn’t it? Gwaine had been in this place long enough to understand people did magic, and that was alright. Merlin did magic and there was nothing anyone could say to Gwaine that would turn his opinion about his friend. But dreams with visions telling you want to do were a bit more than philters and moving objects. A lot to digest on a normal day. Today wasn’t normal however, and any contemplation really would be reserved for another day.

His heart dropped a bit when she shook her head, indicating she didn’t know where Merlin was.

“Are you taking us back to the buildings?” Gwaine questioned, noticing Morgana seemed to have a set path in mind. “Merlin is still out there, I’m not leaving him.” Surely Morgana, with how he’d seen her act towards his friend, would understand.

"Do you think that I don't know that?" She snapped. Her grip tightened almost painfully around the sword and with that she relaxed, face completely neutral. "My priority is getting those without a means of defending themselves-" Morgana's eyes flicked, toward Gwaine. He had nothing but his own two feet and that was only good for running. Only if he got lucky. "to safety. Merlin can summon lightening. You and the dear one cannot. When I'm certain that the two of you are safe, I'll head back for Merlin." Her tone was reasonable, and possibly a bit more detached than it should have been. Only those who knew her best would see through the defense mechanism. Gwaine who didn't know her at all, who knew what he was thought about it. Morgana didn't rightly care so long as he followed.

Well Morgana certainly wasn’t winning Gwaine over with that tone. Merlin was still out there and if this woman thought he, Gwaine, would leave his friend she would need to think again. He had helped Merlin on many dangerous tasks, his empty hands weren’t the least bit a deterrent in his mind.

“I’m not-” he started to hiss, but the thought died on his tongue when the sound of those things could be heard approaching. Maybe they would just pass on by, one could wish, though Gwaine didn’t dare hope such a thing. Instead he prepared himself, and reached for the both of them to pull them back in the shadow of the nearest building. It seemed your first defense against these things was appearing not noticeable, if they ran now they would surely draw attention to themselves.

Despite her sense of disgruntlement of being pulled around, Morgana stayed silent and gathered the little girl, Becca, against her; she attempted desperately to give the trembling small body some warmth. Morgana had enough sense to realize that Gwaine wouldn’t be dragging her deeper into the shadows – or touching her – unless he absolutely had to. She extinguished the small ball of light as quickly as she could. Frantically hoping that nothing had seen them. She was having a difficult enough time convincing Gwaine to go off without Merlin; she couldn’t even imagine what other notions he would get into his head if they were to happen upon them. Probably jump in front of them, when she was the one with the magic. It was the main reason why she couldn’t just send them off in order to look for Merlin and hope for the best. They had only lasted on luck thus far. And while Morgana had lived in Camelot long enough to know when to give luck it’s due, it seemed that such a thing didn’t last very long with these things.

She had to get him and the girl gone. Morgana barely even consider the fact that they might not even make it all the way back to her building or that if they did, those things, might go in after them. It was the most realistic scenario, and while she kept it in the back of her mind to figure out a plan to when they started moving again, she refused to let that probability trip her up. She would get them there alive, even if she didn’t make it there herself.

Gwaine knew the moment one of those nasty metal balls slowed down they had been spotted. Desperation made him hope it would find the three of them boring and not even worth a second glance, but hope born of desperation was rarely worth the energy. The sphere came to a halt and even backed up to get a better view of them, and by this time others had noticed and were slowing down too.

At this point they had so few options left. Morgana was the only one with a weapon or any means to defend them. Stay and die, flee and die. Gwaine would much rather chose the former, that was more his style, and something about Morgana gave him the impression that she was the same, maybe it was the way she respectfully held that sword, but this little girl was a pressing concern. If it wasn’t for her he knew how this would end, both he and Morgana going down in a spectacular show, taking as many of these floating balls with them as possible.

Gwaine was no optimist, he approached ever situation with a helping dose of reality, even if he seemed to take on more than he could possibly handle, he knew each time he did it could be his last. He knew, counting the spheres now headed their way, at least for one of them, if not all, tonight was their last. And glancing at Morgana now, he could tell by the look in her eye she knew it too. He had to respect that, the knowing, the accepting.

For the first time he looked at Morgana differently, with the respect this woman deserved, she wasn’t the one he’d known. He nodded silently, accepting her lead, she had the sword, the magic, it was her right to direct this.

Morgana wondered if this was what her father had felt on the day of his death. This strange sense of calm, even as panic continued to have adrenaline pump through the veins, that came from knowing that the odds were stack staggeringly high but still willing – and knowing that you would – fight until there wasn’t blood in you left to spill. Bolstered by the sense that there were people to protect, to fight for.

Direct? Morgana hadn’t directed anything quite like this in her life. She doubted that telling Gwen that she was leaning too heavily on her front leg, during illicit sword practice counted. She doubted Ealdor counted. This was all on her and she was strangely alright with that.
“Keep her between us but keep her shielded.”

Summon lighting. Summon lighting. Morgause had found a few spells and Morgana had memorized them. However, mastering them was something completely different. Intheory, if Morgana could generate fire, she could be able to generate lightening. In theory. And in theory, if Merlin could summon lightening then so should Morgana, right? Albeit weaker, but still …

Oh, God, this was stupider than anything Merlin and Arthur had done but she wasn’t backing down. Though she couldn’t help but wish, for a second, that one of them were here. Preferably Merlin or her sister.

Merlin. Where the hell are you?, she thought; unconsciously broadcasting. Morgana tended to not to speak telepathically, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t. She had been on the receiving end of messages from Mordred, as well as that damn dragon, before; not to mention that she had been practicing diligently with Morgause. It simply something that occurred to her to do until this very moment. As her eyes grew gold, and she prepared to summon up the lightening. It clicked.

Merlin? Merlin, please. Come and find Gwaine. He’s with a little girl and I don’t think that I can hold them for more than a few minutes. Hurry, Merlin.

And with that she blasted two of them. She successfully did it. The excitement bubbled in her even as she swayed on her feet from the massive rush. The even larger drain.

Morgana began to warn Gwaine to back away when one of the things … spoke. In a high-child-like tone. Morgana had yet to hear them say anything. It caused her to hesitate, catching her off guard, but it was enough.

She continued to back away, managing to blast another one. Or at least she hoped. She was feeling even more woozy and her eyes kept falling on the approaching, spinning blades. That didn’t stop her from trying her best to summon more energy, more magic, for more lightening. Absolutely focused on the Toclafane in front of her.

Morgana had just let out the last words of the spell when one of blades caught her first straight through in the shoulder then in the chest. The last thing she heard was screaming and the last thing that saw was a sky flashing bright.

Merlin. She very briefly felt warm with relief. Or maybe that might have been the blood. Then she saw nothing.

Gwaine found the easiest way to comply with Morgana’s instructions was to pick up the girl and carry her. By now she was screaming which Gwaine didn’t see a point of trying to silence, even if it was harsh to his ears. Maybe if they could just round the corner they could put some obstacles between them and the spheres they might have a better chance at escaping them.

After the first strike it was clear Morgana wouldn’t last that long. The only good thing was they seemed intent on using those ghastly knives instead of just blasting them out right with those guns. Gwaine quickly trying to come up with an alternative solution than Morgana wasting her energy on lightning, even if that was the only way to permanently knock out the flying orbs.

Maybe a dead bolt for the corner would...

But it was all over in an instant with no time to react. With each strike the creatures simply replenished their front with those from the back, ever moving forward, unrelenting. And they were upon Morgana before Gwaine could reach for her hand to pull her into a run.

From behind he could not see the dark stain spreading over her nightclothes, but he could see the protruding knife, and could judge what had been pierced from the angle. Gwaine wasted no more time assessing the damage but set the girl down and grabbed the sword from Morgana’s fallen hand.

“Run!” He shouted back at the girl, and from there he swung.

Lightning broke through the clouds in a furious burst of light, branching out like a spiderweb across the sky, and striking down several of the metal creatures around Morgana and Gwaine. Merlin had come running from around the corner of another building sporting his fair share of blood and cuts, pale and exhausted because it had been a long time since he’d had to call down lightning from the skies, and never this frequently. The magic sparked on his fingertips and his eyes shone gold with each flash of magic that sent the toclafane scattering away from him.

“Morgana!” Merlin almost tripped over himself trying to get to her faster then his feet would allow, reaching for her. He could carry her back. He could. How many times had he had to support Arthur, wounded and passing out, and she was easily much lighter. When he tried though, pulling her arm around his shoulders, he was met with no response, even when he yelled at her to get up - that she couldn’t do this.

Merlin looked about ready to drop himself, but wouldn’t let go of his friend, lighting crashing around them any time the toclafane came near. His magic suddenly hovering dangerously on the edge of what it had been last time he’d opened the skies like this - He could easily save Morgana. Her life was not so far gone that he couldn’t bring her back, but he looked up and his only options were Gwaine, his friend, who had been so willing to come out to protect a little girl, and the child herself. Merlin couldn’t trade their lives for hers. He wouldn’t do it, and knew Morgana would probably be angry with him if he tried.

He stood and looked up at Gwaine. “Can you carry her back? I can’t - I won’t leave her out here. I’ll make sure it’s safe. We’re not that far.” Merlin pulled the little girl to his side, telling her to stay very close to Gwaine and she’d be safe. As soon as he was sure Morgana wouldn’t be left behind, they could hurry back to the building, and he could keep them out of harms way. The sword rose and circled around Gwaine, swinging violently at anything that Merlin’s magic had missed.

Gwaine simply nodded and complied, he wouldn’t dream of leaving Morgana out here.