Who: Morgana and Merlin [fka Susan Pevensie & Merlin] When: Backdated to first day of the AU plot Where: Street, then Susan’s apartment What: Waking up and reuniting in a strange city Rating: Low Status: Complete GDoc
He had woken in a strange glade in a forest, confused, unsure, and utterly lost. It was no glade he had ever seen, and looked nothing like the forests near Camelot, nor near his home. There had been signs of sme kind of a bonfire, one that had gone down to embers and ashes, and he had made sure it was out before he fled. He had started off, looking around, and had been found the town rather easily, though it was larger than any town he had ever seen or heard of! If made Camelot look like a smaller village than his home, even, and yet it seemed less secure, less welcoming.
Moving carriages of metal that he had learned were called cars, strange glowing lights everywhere run by something called electricity, and people using small oddly shaped devices they called phones that somehow allowed magical abilities to be manifested! Some people had answered a few questions, and called him something named a refugee, and he had to admit that this sounded right. Apparently this happened a lot, here.
He had wandered some, and looked around, finding a bench to sit on and watch the road as people went by for awhile, and just… take it all in.
When he spotted someone who looked familiar, he hurried across the street, causing many honks and screeching of tires and he yelped and darted faster, catching up with the woman and calling out. “Morgana? Is that you?”
***
When Morgana had awoken in the strange bed that wasn’t her own, she had thought at first that she was dreaming and had tried to awaken herself - which resulted in a few bruises on her delicate skin as a result of the pinches she’d tried. When that had failed, she had begun to call for Guinevere until she was nearly hoarse, and eventually gave up and got out of bed. The strange bedroom was full of items she didn’t recognize - down to and including the shift she woke up in. After finding a closet containing unusual clothing, but items that seemed to fit her, she had finally settled on a dress that was at least close to what she was accustomed to - though the lack of a corset seemed very strange to her, albeit since she didn’t have a servant to lace her up, it was for the best there wasn’t one to wear.
Finally, Morgana had left the dwelling, only to find herself in a hallway full of doors similar to the one she had stepped out of. This was an odd kidnapping, and she wished desperately for a sword, but since she had no weapon the princess made her way towards a set of stairs. Several minutes later, she found herself outside, and stared in fright at the large metal beasts that passed by.
A familiar shout grabbed her attention, and Morgana spun, almost weeping with gratitude when she saw Arthur’s servant. “Merlin! Thank heavens - I’m afraid I’m going mad. What manner of witchcraft is all of this?”
***
Arriving at her side, he smiled that trademark goofy smile of his and nodded. Morganna was a good person and familiar, and he was very, very, happy to see her. Even if it meant he would have to keep his magic secret again. He sighed internally at that. He was not entirely sure why anyone wanted him not to tell her. It bugged him, a lot. He saw some of himself in her.
At her question, he shook away his ruminations. “We seem to be in the future, and in a time where magic is unknown, and people seem to have started using something called science, which seems to be a kind of magic and alchemy added together and bound by smithing.”
That was how he saw it, anyway.
He took a breath. “I talked to some people, and got a little understanding of this place, but not a lot. It seems like people are abducted here often, to the point where the natives call us ‘refugees’, and there is housing set aside for us, especially.”
***
When he reached her, Morgana reached out to grasp his arm if only to center herself, and reassure herself that he was real and they were both in this strange world together. In truth, Morgana was grateful she wasn’t alone. At his explanation, she shook her head in confusion. “The future? That can’t be possible, can it?”
Morgana studied Merlin’s face in consternation as he went on, only partially understanding. “Refugees from what? Kidnappees, more like it seems. Surely the King will send his knights to rescue us.”
***
Merlin smiled and carefully rubbed her arm gently, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. He had been, after all, a servant. And to most, that was all he was. She knew him a little more, he knew, and he was glad of it.
“I don’t know that everyone would lie about it, but I suppose there could be another explanation.” he looked around, unsure, nibbling one lip. It was reassuring having her there, but he wasn’t sure either of them were equipped to handle this place.
“From other times and places. Though your word makes more sense. No one seems to know who is responsible. Some blame us, some blame the Dome, as if it is a sentient person. Oh! Apparently...” he waved a hand at the seemingly cloudy-clear sky. “there is a dome we cannot see or feel outside of town, keeping us, and everyone here inside it and everyone else outside of it.” A fine prison indeed, he thought, with sarcasm.
“According to some, no one back home will know we are gone, like some kind of… er, spell, we are here between moments.” He watched her face as he spoke those words, knowing magic was controversial back home.
***
Morgana was understandably frightened, but did her best to hide it - particularly in front of Merlin. She certainly didn’t want her conduct to get back to Arthur, or the King, else she might risk further restrictions once they did return to Camelot. All the same, she found herself leaning into his touch, just a little, for a small measure of comfort.
“A dome we cannot see or feel? More magic. Is it the druids? Are they the ones behind all this?” She had noticed on occasion that Merlin seemed to know more about what was happening in a given situation - and he often seemed to find himself in some kind of trouble that he managed to get out of with a flimsy excuse, at best. While Arthur always took what he said at face value, a part of Morgana had never quite fully believed his claims - and at the moment Morgana only hoped that his penchant for being saved against all odds would work for both of them.
“If that’s true, then that means that Uther doesn’t know we’re gone. Arthur isn’t coming,” she said faintly, and if anything her face paled just a little. It was time to focus on what they did know, in order to stay sane. “I awoke in a strange bed, in a room I didn’t recognize. But these clothes - this dressit fits me perfectly. I don’t know why.” She just wished it was a little longer.
***
Merlin kept one hand on her, just trying to keep her comforted, and because, well, he needed the comfort,too. He shook his head, and sighed. “I don’t know what is going on, and I’m a little terrified.” he usually didn’t share, but he usually had Arthur or Gaius, or the Dragon. Now he had Morgana alone. And he found himself opening to her, without hesitation, despite himself. Where was his caution?
“I have not seen or heard any such, but I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like what the druids would do, from the little I have heard, I mean.” Not like he knew them well, ha ha ha. No. He swallowed.
“All I’m sure of is this is not home, and not close to it, but… the people seem friendly.” he sighed, and looked around them. “If even odder than the people of our time.” he spoke that last quieter, staring at some of the things people were wearing, while trying not to stare at Morgana and her clothing which looked…. Very nice on her.
He shoved that thought away and concentrated on her words. He hurried to answer her quickly as she spoke. “We’ll be okay, Morgana., I am sure of it. We’ll stick together and get through this, okay?” Realizing he had sort of taken over, he rushed to continue. “Er, if you want to, that is.” He smiled uncertainty, and tried, again, not to look at her outfit. Or think about how he was responding to her closeness.
***
“I agree that they’re incredibly strange,” she said absently as she followed his gaze to a couple who was passing by. Letting out a quiet sigh, Morgana returned her attention to Merlin after a moment and rested one hand on his on her arm to squeeze it softly.
“Thank you - and I would rather stay with someone I know, of course. Otherwise I would feel rather lost.” Or more lost than she felt at the moment. “Where do you suggest we go? Should we try to speak to these people?”
***
He flushed and nodded. “The people implied I should have something like a key and a phone, and I was thinking about heading back to where I woke up. Or to the apartments where they said people stay. We could go together? And then see if we can ask around and get some more answers?” That way they would have a place to stay and not be out and about.
***
“Perhaps there is something in the room I woke up in? I think I remember the way back,” Morgana replied before looking around, then pointing in one particular direction.
“There - there is a building around that corner that I came from. We can see what we can learn in there.” Now that they at least had some small plan of action, she felt a little better, if still very nervous. She didn’t like showing her weakness in front of a servant, and did her best to put on a confidant face, and started in that direction once it seemed Merlin would join her.
***
Merlin nodded. “Let’s check that out first, then? And if we need to, we can check our where I woke, or do that later, too.” He smiled at her, hopefully. He nodded and waved her ahead of him. He was all too conscious of the fact that she was a lady and he was just a servant, despite her being very beautiful and also magical maybe.
“Lead on. I am at your service.” he grinned at her.
***
“Alright,” she replied, and gave him a faint smile in return. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head and started back in the direction she had originally come, her bearing fully regal as she walked. Several minutes later, they were back at the door of the apartment she had woken up in, and after a quick glance at Merlin, Morgana opened the door and stepped back inside, looking around a little more closely now.
“It’s just - all so very different from Camelot.”
***
Merlin walked with her, one step behind and varying to the right or left as the street allowed. And fighting the urge to dart ahead in case there was danger. Merlin worried. He was not a great servant, really. But he was good at helping… sometimes.
“It really is.”
Stepping into her place and closing the door behind him, he sighed. It looked nice, completely different form what he knew, but nice.
“I have a feeling we are on a learning curve, here. I mentioned Camelot to one person and they reacted, ah, as if that was a long time ago.” he had some worries about what that meant.
He shook himself and focused on Morgana. “Where did you wake up?”
***
Morgana frowned in concern at his words about the reaction to Camelot, but pushed that aside for the moment. “In a bedchamber - back here.” She turned the corner and led the way into a tastefully decorated bedroom. The dresser held a lovely vanity with a brush and several different pieces of jewelry, though they were mostly different from what she was used to, and the bed itself was unmade, the shift she’d woken up in tossed casually by the foot of it.
“I’m not certain who’s chambers these are, but they are nice,” she had to admit. “It certainly isn’t as drafty as the castle can be.”
***
Merlin nodded, following her, stepping in and looking around, prowling a bit, straightening things like he might if he was cleaning, well, her rooms in Camelot. Mind you, that was Gwen’s position, not his, but he cleaned for Arthur and some things came naturally.
“”It’s very different. Everything seems… quieter, and yet more noisy, much less personal and yet more convenient.” Merlin sighed, confused.
He turned back to her. “Do you want me to look for identification, papers? Maybe we can learn more?” he did not think to ask her to look, himself.
***
Since there wasn’t a chair in the bed chambers, Morgana walked over to the bed to sit on the edge as she watched him absently. This part, at least, wasn’t so different from home, though it made her miss Gwen at the moment.
“Do you think there is such a thing here? Perhaps a crest or a signet ring?”
***
“Something like that, I mean, there should be? Or papers of some kind?” he was not sure he could read them if there were.
He sighed as he started working and rifling through drawers, looking for anything of the kind. “Gwen was always better at finding things than me. She has the touch for it, I think.” he grinned over at Morgana, almost feeling the same as her in this moment.
“We will get back somehow, you know that, right?”
***
“Is she really?” Her eyebrows climbed slightly at that, and Morgana made a mental note to take better care with hiding private things once she returned to Camelot - which had to be soon.
Lifting her clear blue gaze to meet his eyes, she gave a tentative nod, more frightened than she cared to admit. “Of course we will.”
***
Merlin nodded, unaware he had revealed anything untoward. “She often helped me find things that had been misplaced around and about.” The lives of servants were sometimes odd.
He smiled warmly, and moved to her, Gently touching her shoulder. “I have every confidence that you and I can do it. “ And oddly, he did. He smiled to her, then sighed. No luck yet on finding things.
***
Morgana returned his smile, reaching up to touch his hand softly. “Thank you, Merlin. I am sure you’re right.” Letting out a quiet sigh, she looked around the room to see what else there might be to discover, then pointed at a strange-looking flat metallic object next to the bed. “What is that?”
***
Smiling at her, it took him a second to hear her words, and he shook his head, pushing away his dazzlement. Turning to where she pointed, he moved to it and lifted it. “Some sort of container?” he fiddled with it and opened it, bringing it back to her.
“Maybe what we’re looking for?” He handed it over, as she had noticed it. If he had found it before she had, he might have read it first, but, well, not in the open.
***
Morgana took it from him and turned it over a couple of times. It was black, and one side was smooth like a mirror, and though dark she could see her reflection in it. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I wish Gaius was here - he always seems to know what strange items may be,” she said absently. One of her fingers inadvertently pressed a button on the side of the phone, and the smooth side lit up, causing Morgana to gasp and drop it on the bed.
“Is it - magical?”
***
Merlin darted forward and peered at it, then cautiously extended a hand toward it. He felt no magic, but he could hardly say so. “I… don’t know? I don’t think so? It looks like more of this world’s science, but what it is, i don’t know…” He sighed and poked the button she had hit again, lighting up the screen. He poked that area, and nothing seemed to happen.
Sliding his finger around, the surface changed, now with small symbols on it.
“Hmmm, it seems to react to stroking it.”
His tone and face was dubious about doing so though. How… odd.
***
“Like - an animal?” Morgana leaned in closer to study the odd device herself, and she frowned at the unfamiliar symbols. She didn’t understand what any meant, but after a moment she pointed at one near the bottom of the screen, but didn’t touch it.
“That looks like an envelope, doesn’t it?”
***
“Or a person, maybe?” Then he flushed and did not look at her, nope. Oh Brother, him and his mouth.
“That it does.” he tentatively touched the symbol and a new screen came open. “Messages,” he read, and blinked. “This… may be some sort of communication device. The people I was seeing on the roads… they had things that looked different… but something like this, now that i think about it. So maybe it is their magic?”
***
Morgana chose not to comment on his words, instead keeping her own gaze on the object as his finger touched the symbol. Uneasily, she lifted her gaze while he spoke, biting her lip absently.
“If it’s magic - then we shouldn’t touch it, correct? It’s - it would be too dangerous, like all magic?” Her eyes held a faint pleading in them as she repeated Uther’s rhetoric, because just maybe it wasn’t dangerous, which could mean that perhaps she wasn’t dangerous, either.
***
Merlin lifted his eyes to hers, and he hesitated for a long moment, mouth open, as if to once more dodge such things or repeat the party line, and seeing her eyes, and feeling that fear himself… something snapped inside him. He took a long, long breath and held his hand above the phone, eyes still on hers.
“Not all magic is evil. Or dangerous. Some is, and some… some is good.”
And his eyes went golden as the phone leaped up to his hand.
***
Morgana let out a slow breath at his words, surprised that he’d even uttered them. Her gaze dropped to the phone in his hand as she gasped in utter shock - but she didn’t draw away, even though she should. Confusion filled her face, along with a faint sign of hurt that she’d never known this.
“You - you have magic? But...how? You’re a servant.” As if that should somehow make a difference. “You’re a servant in the King’s palace - for his son - and you know how much he hates any sort of witchcraft.” For the moment, it was easier to focus on Merlin rather than what this might mean something to her.
***
Merlin looked down then. “That is a long story. The short version of it is that …” he swallowed, his mouth dry, fear almost shaking him with much hard it was filling him. Gods, what had he done? He forced himself to go on. “I was born with it, supposedly I have some kind of destiny. To try to influence Arthur and make the future a better one, one where magic and non-magic people can live in peace together.”
He looked up to her again, then. “That’s why I serve Arthur, because I am trying to serve the whole kingdom, to help it, and sometimes it feels like the weight of the world is on me.”
He shuddered, eyes worried with what she might do. He started pacing, hands waving and talking animatedly
“I’ve never told a soul. Only those who already know have ever known. Everyone always tells me to keep it a secret, to never tell anyone, never trust anyone. How can I make a better future if I can’t be honest? What kind of advice and future even is that? I feel sometimes like keeping it a secret, trying to help everyone and yet never giving myself away… like it will tear me apart.”
He was trembling, more scared now than he had ever been.
***
As she watched him walk back and forth in consternation, she inwardly kicked herself for being so stupid - for not noticing and for blaming him just now. It obviously wasn’t his fault, and considering her own faint suspicions regarding herself, well, how could she blame him for keeping it a secret.
After a moment, Morgana stood and moved to intercept him, catching his hands to still them as she forced him to look into her eyes.
“I understand, Merlin - I can see why it was something to be kept a secret, and why it’s been so hard to trust people. I’m glad you’re being honest with me now, and I -” it was her turn to look down in uncertainty. “There is much that I don’t understand regarding what has happened in Camelot in recent months, that I’ve often felt lost, with the belief that I had no one to talk to. I don’t blame you at all for never mentioning this to anyone.”
***
Merlin was startled at her suddenly standing in front of him, having not noticed her moving at all. His hands stilled in hers, fluttering a touch before going still as he listened, and he looked to her eyes, those eyes he had seen and known and thought of before.
“I’m sorry, even so, that I have not spoken to you. You, and Gwen, especially, I feel I could trust. Should trust. “ he shivered as he looked at her, then smiled lopsided. “This? This tells me I should have.”
He nodded again.
“But, I don’t know if these phones are magic, Only that… they don’t seem harmful?” He kept his hands on hers, now holding hers in turn. Having told her, there was a desperation to almost blurt everything out, but he held back.
So much to say!
***
“I wish you had trusted us both,” she replied, but smiled a little in return. “I’m glad you trust me now, Merlin - it answers so many questions, really.” She could understand how exhausting it may have been for him to keep it a secret, and how hard when she knew that he valued Arthur’s love and friendship, despite the fact that the Prince wasn’t always kind to him.
“We know so little about them right now,” she said as she looked over at the phone, still wary of it. “We should tread carefully - it could be a danger in the future, couldn’t it?” Looking back at Merlin, Morgana was obviously still nervous - though not about him right now.
***
“Me too.” He took as long breath, and grinned at her,and nodded. He blushed and nodded again. Merlin just wanted to try to work this out here. It felt like a new beginning. A new hope. Yes. He hoped this would carry over back to home. It would be a relief, and nice.
At her words, he concentrated, and blew out a long breath, then nibbled one lip. “This whole place is a danger. Both the technology and the people seem so different from what we know. The only thing I am sure of is two things… one, you and I can figure this out, and two, any tool just depends on what you do with it. It’s not evil in and of itself.”
Merlin nodded. “So, er, yes, be careful? I’m not honestly sure what to do here.”
***
“We’ll manage here, somehow,” she replied, giving Merlin a reassuring smile, even though she wasn’t entirely sure she felt so sure herself right now.
“Come along, we should make better sense of where we are and see where we can find food and everything else,” Morgana said as she let go of his hands, smoothed down her dress, then turned to head for the door.
***
Merlin nodded, and smiled as he rose, straightened himself, and followed her. “We will, yes. I’m glad you’re here. With you here… I know it will be okay.” he nodded again and relaxed a little. Still worried, and unsure, but more confident, he was ready to face this, with her.