Fic: Going home (Merlin, Morgana/Nimueh, PG)
Title: Going home
Author: modestroad
Recipient: shopfront
Fandom: Merlin (BBC)
Pairing: Morgana/Nimueh
Rating: PG
Word count: 2013
Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine.
A/N: A huge thanks to ladyithildiel and kitty_writer for their beta help. netgirl_y2k offered her help, but I send her the story at the last minute. I had to re-write the story since my computer died on me. and what a crappy job I did
Warnings: N/A
Summary: AU. Morgana was kidnapped when she was six. Thirteen years later she finds her way back home.
It’s been raining for days making their trip difficult. They have no horses and no food, and it’s hard to tell if the passed the borders or not. A forest is a forest either side of the borders.
She is tired and hungry, and she can tell just by looking at the others that she’s not alone in that, but they can’t stop. If they stop now and they are not on Camelot’s grounds then they are as good as dead. In a way they are dead. If the knights don’t find them, then they are probably going to starve to death. The forest has very little to offer to them without a fire.
So they walk and hope they are far away. One step at a time; left, right, left, right. Someone says something, but she’s too exhausted to do two things at the same time. She can’t walk and listen, she’s that tired. All she wants to do is find a dry place and sleep.
Then she hears the word ‘Knights’ and she’s running.
*******************
She’s hiding behind a tree making as little noise as she can. It would be easier to listen if it wasn’t for the goddamn rain. It’s like the nature punishing them for having the idea to run away. Next to her a boy with big blue eyes is staring at the sky and she can’t help but wonder if he’s thinking the same.
She whistles softly and the boy turns his attention to her. She wants to tell him that at least they will die free, but a blade stops her from doing so.
***********************
“You found them all?” The knight with the white horse asks and from the way the other knights around him act he must be the leader.
He’s wearing red. In fact all his knights are wearing red. Red is Camelot’s color. The Southern color is yellow so they might have a chance after all.
When the knights tie their hands together and force them to run behind the horses, she loses any hope she has.
*********************
At least they are not outside in the rain.
She keeps her stare down avoiding looking at the King or his knights. It will only cause trouble and trouble she doesn’t want. They don’t have a leader, they are only refuges after all, but someone had to talk in their behalf.
“Please, my Lord, don’t send us back,” the man begs and his voice is desperate.
“Camelot is in peace with the South for over ten years now. Tell me, why should I jeopardize the truce for a dozen refuges?”
She knows the King only by reputation. King Uther, they say, is a caring king. Magic is free in his kingdom; he even has a school for people with magic. His voice is hard and cold, and she knows he’s going to send them back. Uther is a caring King to his people and they are not his people.
Sometimes she can’t help but think they are not people at all.
“Take them.”
She’s half way outside the chamber when her legs give in.
**************************
The first thing she’s aware of is someone’s hands around her throat. The same someone is yelling something at her, but she’s still light-headed and feels that the only thing that’s holding her up is the hands on her throat.
“Where did you find that?” The voice asks and it takes her a few moments to realize that is the King’s voice, the King’s hands choking her. “The bracelet. Where did you find the bracelet?”
She wants to tell him that she made the stupid bracelet once she escaped from the Southern dungeons. She wants to tell him that she just wanted to have something of her own. Servants in the South weren’t allowed to have anything as their property and she curved this bracelet once she was free and far away.
Instead she mumbles, “M-mine.”
Her voice is raspy and strange in her ears. It’s been a while since someone had spoken to her. In the forest they kept quit and communicated with looks and small sounds. And at the dungeons the only way to use your voice was when you screamed.
“Don’t lie to me, child!” Mad eyes. The King has mad eyes. She’s not going to make it back to the South because the King will kill her first.
“No l-lie,” she manages to say and his hands tight their hold.
“The symbol,” he licks his lips, “How you know that symbol?”
Her heart beats fast and she wants to take a breath to fill her lungs, but she can’t. She can only stare at his eyes and hope that her end will come soon.
“Gorlois,” she chokes and finally his hands let go of their grip; gasping she fells in the floor.
“And how,” a cold blade touches her skin, “do you know that name?”
Swallowing is hard; her inside is burning and she feels sick. No sound comes out when she tries to speak. The room spins around her and suddenly they are two Kings with two swords that want to kill her.
“My father,” she manages to whisper before darkness claims her again.
*******************
She wakes up in a strange room. A fire is burning, lighting the place. It smells clean; flowers and fresh air. When she tries to get up she finds out that her hands can’t hold her weight.
“She’s awake,” a female voice says and a soft, cold hand touches her forehead. “She still has a fever.”
“Let’s see if I can do something about that,” another voice says. Old, male, sounds friendly.
If he is indeed friendly she doesn’t know. But she knows that she likes the soft hand in her forehead.
*********************
“I think she’s a spy,” Arthur says and Gwen has to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
Merlin doesn’t. “She’s not a spy. You have seen her. Does she look like a spy to you?”
“And how we suppose to know what a spy looks like?” Arthur argues, “Are we to believe that Morgause’s long lost sister just happened to be one of the refuges?”
“You can believe what you want, Arthur, but she’s with Nimueh and I trust Nimueh to know better than you,” Gwen says and that’s the end of the conversation.
*********************
She’s in the castle for ten days when she feels better and asks to take a walk. Nimueh comes with her. She’s never alone. If Nimueh has to be somewhere else, Gwen’s with her. Sometimes the King comes, but they don’t talk. He looks like he wants to say something to her and she’s too scared to ask.
He never stays long.
*********************
“Do you remember your life before?” Nimueh is the only one that asks her about her life. All the others seem to avoid the subject. Gwen is too polite to ask and Uther, the few times they spoke, only cares to say how her life is going to change from now on.
“I remember my father,” she says and the memory doesn’t hurt as much. She can still remember his face if she tries. She smiles. “He had a beard.” Nimueh doesn’t force her to speak, but she wants it. “We were playing hide and seek. Morgause and I. She was older than me and it was her turn to seek. She warned me not to go far into the forest, but I had found a new hiding spot she knew nothing about.”
She doesn’t know how to say the next words so she just says them.
“Then the soldiers came. Took me and killed my sister.”
Nimueh stops her. “Morgana, your sister is not dead.”
*********************
Morgana sees her sister again after thirteen years. It is as if she was staring at a stranger. Morgause is nothing like her; she’s blond, rides a horse and carries a sword. All Morgana has is a wooden bracelet and a borrowed dress.
The say nothing for a while. Morgana doesn’t know the woman in front of her and from what it seems neither does she.
“Morgana,” the stranger smiles, but doesn’t come closer.
“You have mother’s smile,” Morgana says before hugging her sister.
*******************
Morgana lives in the Camelot for three months before she has another nightmare. She wakes up in the middle of the night gasping for air and having the urge to run to Arthur’s chambers to see if he’s alive.
The last thing she wants is to see Arthur naked.
She goes anyway.
****************************
“I wasn’t spying on him!” She yells and if Gwen wasn’t holding her she could wipe that smug smile of his face.
“Then what you were doing in my chambers?”
“I was…” Suddenly telling them that she had a dream about Prince Arthur getting eaten by a flying monster isn’t such a good idea.
“We are waiting here, Morgana,” Arthur says with smug satisfaction and the words are out before holding herself.
“A flying monster is going to eat you alive!”
Gwen lets her free from her grasp.
*************************
Two hours later the flying monster is dead, Merlin is cleaning up the mess in Arthur’s chambers, Arthur’s smile has vanished and Nimueh is staring at her with a look that Morgana has never seen in the other woman.
“Come with me.”
**************************
“Tell me about your dream.”
It is a command, not a question and Morgana is still afraid that they are going to send her back or something if the doesn’t cooperate.
“Just a silly nightmare.”
“Morgana, a screeling tried to eat Prince Arthur. I believe it’s safe to say that it was more than a silly nightmare.”
“Sometimes,” Morgana finally admits, “I have these nightmares--“
“Vision. Not nightmares. Visions.”
“Visions?” Morgana tilts her head to the right.
“Morgana,” Nimueh takes her hand to hers, “Do you know what a Seer is?”
************************
Turns out Morgana doesn’t know what a Seer is, but they others sure know. Arthur is keeping his distance (not that Morgana minds it), Merlin is happy for some reason, Uther still doesn’t know what to say to her and Gwen is the only person that treats her as before.
“You are a Seer,” Morgause avoids Morgana’s attack with ease. “Mother would be proud.”
Morgana is getting better with the sword, but she knows she’s not nearly as good as her sister. Probably she’ll never be as good as Morgause, but she likes the challenge and she likes to spend time with her sister.
“A Seer,” Morgause says again and Morgana doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about.
She can’t even beat her own sister in simple swordplay.
********************
“Will you let me train?” Nimueh asks and Morgana doesn’t know what to say.
She’s not used to people asking her opinion. Seven months ago she was a Southern servant and despite the new status quo she still feels like a servant. People expect her to act like royalty when most of the time she has no idea what to do.
But it’s different with Nimueh. She was on Morgana’s side from the start, giving her support when Morgana needed it. She never judged her and if Nimueh was asking for more it was because she believed in her.
“It will be my honor,” Nimueh says and Morgana nods.
*********************
Well. That Morgana didn’t see coming.
“You like it? This is going to be your new home until your training is over.”
“It is,” Morgana tries to find the right words to describe it, “very spacey.”
Nimueh smiles. “It is also isolated. And it will provide the peace of mind you need for your training.”
Morgana stares the place. It’s not everyday she finds herself in a hidden island.
“How many people have you brought here?”
She’s not prepared for the answer.
“You are the first one.”
Morgana turns and looks at the older woman. Nimueh stares at her and its not long before Morgana understands the importance of that.
“Nimueh?”
“Yes?”
“You are special to me too.”
Author: modestroad
Recipient: shopfront
Fandom: Merlin (BBC)
Pairing: Morgana/Nimueh
Rating: PG
Word count: 2013
Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine.
A/N: A huge thanks to ladyithildiel and kitty_writer for their beta help. netgirl_y2k offered her help, but I send her the story at the last minute. I had to re-write the story since my computer died on me. and what a crappy job I did
Warnings: N/A
Summary: AU. Morgana was kidnapped when she was six. Thirteen years later she finds her way back home.
It’s been raining for days making their trip difficult. They have no horses and no food, and it’s hard to tell if the passed the borders or not. A forest is a forest either side of the borders.
She is tired and hungry, and she can tell just by looking at the others that she’s not alone in that, but they can’t stop. If they stop now and they are not on Camelot’s grounds then they are as good as dead. In a way they are dead. If the knights don’t find them, then they are probably going to starve to death. The forest has very little to offer to them without a fire.
So they walk and hope they are far away. One step at a time; left, right, left, right. Someone says something, but she’s too exhausted to do two things at the same time. She can’t walk and listen, she’s that tired. All she wants to do is find a dry place and sleep.
Then she hears the word ‘Knights’ and she’s running.
*******************
She’s hiding behind a tree making as little noise as she can. It would be easier to listen if it wasn’t for the goddamn rain. It’s like the nature punishing them for having the idea to run away. Next to her a boy with big blue eyes is staring at the sky and she can’t help but wonder if he’s thinking the same.
She whistles softly and the boy turns his attention to her. She wants to tell him that at least they will die free, but a blade stops her from doing so.
***********************
“You found them all?” The knight with the white horse asks and from the way the other knights around him act he must be the leader.
He’s wearing red. In fact all his knights are wearing red. Red is Camelot’s color. The Southern color is yellow so they might have a chance after all.
When the knights tie their hands together and force them to run behind the horses, she loses any hope she has.
*********************
At least they are not outside in the rain.
She keeps her stare down avoiding looking at the King or his knights. It will only cause trouble and trouble she doesn’t want. They don’t have a leader, they are only refuges after all, but someone had to talk in their behalf.
“Please, my Lord, don’t send us back,” the man begs and his voice is desperate.
“Camelot is in peace with the South for over ten years now. Tell me, why should I jeopardize the truce for a dozen refuges?”
She knows the King only by reputation. King Uther, they say, is a caring king. Magic is free in his kingdom; he even has a school for people with magic. His voice is hard and cold, and she knows he’s going to send them back. Uther is a caring King to his people and they are not his people.
Sometimes she can’t help but think they are not people at all.
“Take them.”
She’s half way outside the chamber when her legs give in.
**************************
The first thing she’s aware of is someone’s hands around her throat. The same someone is yelling something at her, but she’s still light-headed and feels that the only thing that’s holding her up is the hands on her throat.
“Where did you find that?” The voice asks and it takes her a few moments to realize that is the King’s voice, the King’s hands choking her. “The bracelet. Where did you find the bracelet?”
She wants to tell him that she made the stupid bracelet once she escaped from the Southern dungeons. She wants to tell him that she just wanted to have something of her own. Servants in the South weren’t allowed to have anything as their property and she curved this bracelet once she was free and far away.
Instead she mumbles, “M-mine.”
Her voice is raspy and strange in her ears. It’s been a while since someone had spoken to her. In the forest they kept quit and communicated with looks and small sounds. And at the dungeons the only way to use your voice was when you screamed.
“Don’t lie to me, child!” Mad eyes. The King has mad eyes. She’s not going to make it back to the South because the King will kill her first.
“No l-lie,” she manages to say and his hands tight their hold.
“The symbol,” he licks his lips, “How you know that symbol?”
Her heart beats fast and she wants to take a breath to fill her lungs, but she can’t. She can only stare at his eyes and hope that her end will come soon.
“Gorlois,” she chokes and finally his hands let go of their grip; gasping she fells in the floor.
“And how,” a cold blade touches her skin, “do you know that name?”
Swallowing is hard; her inside is burning and she feels sick. No sound comes out when she tries to speak. The room spins around her and suddenly they are two Kings with two swords that want to kill her.
“My father,” she manages to whisper before darkness claims her again.
*******************
She wakes up in a strange room. A fire is burning, lighting the place. It smells clean; flowers and fresh air. When she tries to get up she finds out that her hands can’t hold her weight.
“She’s awake,” a female voice says and a soft, cold hand touches her forehead. “She still has a fever.”
“Let’s see if I can do something about that,” another voice says. Old, male, sounds friendly.
If he is indeed friendly she doesn’t know. But she knows that she likes the soft hand in her forehead.
*********************
“I think she’s a spy,” Arthur says and Gwen has to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
Merlin doesn’t. “She’s not a spy. You have seen her. Does she look like a spy to you?”
“And how we suppose to know what a spy looks like?” Arthur argues, “Are we to believe that Morgause’s long lost sister just happened to be one of the refuges?”
“You can believe what you want, Arthur, but she’s with Nimueh and I trust Nimueh to know better than you,” Gwen says and that’s the end of the conversation.
*********************
She’s in the castle for ten days when she feels better and asks to take a walk. Nimueh comes with her. She’s never alone. If Nimueh has to be somewhere else, Gwen’s with her. Sometimes the King comes, but they don’t talk. He looks like he wants to say something to her and she’s too scared to ask.
He never stays long.
*********************
“Do you remember your life before?” Nimueh is the only one that asks her about her life. All the others seem to avoid the subject. Gwen is too polite to ask and Uther, the few times they spoke, only cares to say how her life is going to change from now on.
“I remember my father,” she says and the memory doesn’t hurt as much. She can still remember his face if she tries. She smiles. “He had a beard.” Nimueh doesn’t force her to speak, but she wants it. “We were playing hide and seek. Morgause and I. She was older than me and it was her turn to seek. She warned me not to go far into the forest, but I had found a new hiding spot she knew nothing about.”
She doesn’t know how to say the next words so she just says them.
“Then the soldiers came. Took me and killed my sister.”
Nimueh stops her. “Morgana, your sister is not dead.”
*********************
Morgana sees her sister again after thirteen years. It is as if she was staring at a stranger. Morgause is nothing like her; she’s blond, rides a horse and carries a sword. All Morgana has is a wooden bracelet and a borrowed dress.
The say nothing for a while. Morgana doesn’t know the woman in front of her and from what it seems neither does she.
“Morgana,” the stranger smiles, but doesn’t come closer.
“You have mother’s smile,” Morgana says before hugging her sister.
*******************
Morgana lives in the Camelot for three months before she has another nightmare. She wakes up in the middle of the night gasping for air and having the urge to run to Arthur’s chambers to see if he’s alive.
The last thing she wants is to see Arthur naked.
She goes anyway.
****************************
“I wasn’t spying on him!” She yells and if Gwen wasn’t holding her she could wipe that smug smile of his face.
“Then what you were doing in my chambers?”
“I was…” Suddenly telling them that she had a dream about Prince Arthur getting eaten by a flying monster isn’t such a good idea.
“We are waiting here, Morgana,” Arthur says with smug satisfaction and the words are out before holding herself.
“A flying monster is going to eat you alive!”
Gwen lets her free from her grasp.
*************************
Two hours later the flying monster is dead, Merlin is cleaning up the mess in Arthur’s chambers, Arthur’s smile has vanished and Nimueh is staring at her with a look that Morgana has never seen in the other woman.
“Come with me.”
**************************
“Tell me about your dream.”
It is a command, not a question and Morgana is still afraid that they are going to send her back or something if the doesn’t cooperate.
“Just a silly nightmare.”
“Morgana, a screeling tried to eat Prince Arthur. I believe it’s safe to say that it was more than a silly nightmare.”
“Sometimes,” Morgana finally admits, “I have these nightmares--“
“Vision. Not nightmares. Visions.”
“Visions?” Morgana tilts her head to the right.
“Morgana,” Nimueh takes her hand to hers, “Do you know what a Seer is?”
************************
Turns out Morgana doesn’t know what a Seer is, but they others sure know. Arthur is keeping his distance (not that Morgana minds it), Merlin is happy for some reason, Uther still doesn’t know what to say to her and Gwen is the only person that treats her as before.
“You are a Seer,” Morgause avoids Morgana’s attack with ease. “Mother would be proud.”
Morgana is getting better with the sword, but she knows she’s not nearly as good as her sister. Probably she’ll never be as good as Morgause, but she likes the challenge and she likes to spend time with her sister.
“A Seer,” Morgause says again and Morgana doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about.
She can’t even beat her own sister in simple swordplay.
********************
“Will you let me train?” Nimueh asks and Morgana doesn’t know what to say.
She’s not used to people asking her opinion. Seven months ago she was a Southern servant and despite the new status quo she still feels like a servant. People expect her to act like royalty when most of the time she has no idea what to do.
But it’s different with Nimueh. She was on Morgana’s side from the start, giving her support when Morgana needed it. She never judged her and if Nimueh was asking for more it was because she believed in her.
“It will be my honor,” Nimueh says and Morgana nods.
*********************
Well. That Morgana didn’t see coming.
“You like it? This is going to be your new home until your training is over.”
“It is,” Morgana tries to find the right words to describe it, “very spacey.”
Nimueh smiles. “It is also isolated. And it will provide the peace of mind you need for your training.”
Morgana stares the place. It’s not everyday she finds herself in a hidden island.
“How many people have you brought here?”
She’s not prepared for the answer.
“You are the first one.”
Morgana turns and looks at the older woman. Nimueh stares at her and its not long before Morgana understands the importance of that.
“Nimueh?”
“Yes?”
“You are special to me too.”