Morgana stood next to a wall with bows and arrows hanging above her; her eyebrows narrowed deep in thought, her mind somehow still trying to process how everything had happened the last few days. From Guinevere's infidelity and Lancelot's betrayal coming to light to Mordred taking over Camelot with the help of Agravaine and a few other knights, some from Camelot, others from Lothien. Morgana had sent a letter to Lot to check if he and Morgause were aware of what their knights were up to, but she had yet to get a response and no way of knowing if she would ever get one.

Emrys was passing back and forth, and she could notice how his mind was pulling the same turns as hers was. They had enchanted the room for as long as their conversation lasted, him from the outside to make the door disappear and her from the inside to prevent the sound of their voices from being heard by anyone but them. The magic would be strong enough to repel Mordred's.

"We should have tried harder to convince him not to go," Morgana finally spoke, Emrys stopped and stepped towards her nodding, solemn. Just a couple of days before Mordred's take over, Arthur had gotten news about Lancelot's whereabouts and decided to go to talk to him about the situation.

"We know how hotheaded he is, but I didn't think..."

"That Mordred would try to take the opportunity as a chance to take over." Morgana finished, giving a deeper thought to her initial plan, "Remind me again why we can't take the kingdom back in Arthur's name on our own?"

"For starters, none of us is a Pendragon nor officially a knight, you are a duchess and I'm 'The Merlin'" Emrys spoke, "But most importantly because we don't have an army, quite a large group of knights left with Arthur and others joined Mordred's cause, the remaining ones are either protecting Aethel or Guinevere or the people in the town, I doubt they'll stop what they're doing to help two people with powers to take over the kingdom despite it being in self-defense, and even leaving those two scenarios out, Lot's knights only came in a small amount, us attacking Mordred and Agravaine in Arthur's name would give your sister the perfect reason to attack Camelot under the guise of rescuing her poor innocent boy from our clutches, which in a larger scale would only lead to a far bigger issue; just to name a few, I'd like to add that, if it wasn't for the overwhelming list of reasons I'd be delighted to send that kid back to his mother as a rat"

Morgana sighed in defeat, perhaps it was the first time Emrys' skill to see the worst out of any given situation served as some sort of advantage. A small smile escaped her lips. She dwelled on the details of the back-up plan she had envisioned. If she couldn't get Mordred out, at the very least she had to find a way to protect the people inside.

"We already managed to safely hide most of the people that live in the castle, you have to take Aethel out," Morgana began, Emrys furrowed his eyebrows, "I'll take Guinevere and we'll meet in the stables in a couple of minutes, alright?"

"Why are you taking Guinevere?"

Morgana understood his confusion, at least partly, "Mordred has spies, and it's easier to believe that I'll want to take Aethel out than that I'll want to be anywhere close to Guinevere, which I don't, but it's better than having the possibility of Mordred getting the chance to execute her, if I didn't get the chance, neither will that kid." she half-joked, a small smile escaped Emrys's lips as he took a step away from the wall.

"Very well, I'll see you in the stables, be safe," he nodded, putting a hand in her arm, there was a plea in his eyes.

"You act as if you didn't know me." Morgana rolled her eyes.

Morgana's eyes glowed as she reappeared in the roof above Guinevere's room. She felt bad for the servants who had to take the stairs all the way up to the tower where Guinevere was being held just to bring her food three times a day.

She slowly turned into a ladybug, moving through the walls until she was able to enter Guinevere's room through a small crack in the window. The moment she was on the stone floor, Morgana turned back into herself with a tired sigh. She wasn't particularly fond of transformation spells, taking the shape of the desired animal or object took a lot of her energy.

Guinevere gasped when she noticed Morgana. The book she was holding in her hands resonated when it hit the floor. Morgana rolled her eyes cleaning her dress from any dust she might have caught while turned into a bug. She looked at the door for a second to see if the fallen book had somehow reached one of the guards' ears and if they would deem it as important. When she realized this wouldn't be the case she turned to Guinevere who was still looking at her in surprise.

"Guinevere, quick grab your essentials and we'll leave now," Morgana commanded. Guinevere stood up but remained frozen in her place.

"What?"

She approached the redhead, "Listen to me, grab what you can't live without and we'll go, Mordred doesn't know I'm here and right now, that's our biggest advantage."

Guinevere's face fell, she looked at Morgana with sadness, "Morgana, I can't leave."

Morgana did her best to repress a groan of frustration as she rubbed the sides of her forehead, "Why not? Guinevere, now's not the moment for things like this."

"Mordred came before you... he said Arthur had died."

Morgana's heart almost fell, but if Mordred had truly heard about Arthur dying so would she, "And you believed him?" she questioned with disgust.

"I don't have a choice, not after what he said next, he said he could either marry Aethel to take the kingdom or he could marry me, apparently by the law, I'm still queen of Camelot"

Morgana took a careful step back, followed by a deep breath. She pressed her hands together, "Guinevere, Emrys and me are trying to take you two away, listen to me for once in your life,"

Guinevere shook her head, "What about the people then? Morgana I have decided to take the deal, if I don't stay he'll make every ally or citizen as miserable as possible and we won't have anything more than ashes to rebuild after he's done destroying everything you, Arthur, Emrys and I have built. This way I'm protecting my people and my daughter."

"Guinevere, this is not the time for you to play hero, there are other ways we are giving you another way."

"This is the way I'm choosing," Guinevere stood her ground, Morgana rolled her eyes, accepting the woman's decision, whatever came out, she wouldn't be able to say she didn't at least try, "Could you do something for me? Make sure Aethel is safe, God forbid Mordred decides to incarcerate her and take her as a warranty."

"Emrys and I will do our best, I'll help her, not because of you."

Guinevere's lips almost twitched in a smile as she nodded, "I know."

Morgana nodded at Guinevere, eyes glowing before she appeared in the back of the stables, in one of the spaces without a horse in it whose neigh could alert anyone within a hearing distance of her presence. Morgana sighed in relief, walking until she noticed Aethel attempting to get any conversation out of Emrys and he barely answering with hums and nods but still listening to everything the girl was saying.

Morgana approached them with cautious steps. Emrys almost jumped when his eyes crossed with Morgana's. He realized the lack of a redheaded queen next to her.

"What happened to Guinevere?" he questioned with eyebrows knit together. The girl besides him was watching her with interest at the mention of her mom's name.

"She didn't want to come, we are only taking Aethel," Morgana spoke, smiling softly at the girl, passing a hand through her hair.

"Are you alright?" Emrys' voice resonated.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just have a horrible feeling." Morgana shrugged, taking a horse out of the stable, Emrys moved uneasy. She knew he'd rather follow them transformed in an animal than to get on a horse, "But I'm sure everything will be fine once the letter reaches Arthur,"

"I hope so." Emrys' voice resonated, but it was followed by something Morgana couldn't comprehend. She rose an eyebrow, getting in her horse while Aethel got in hers.

"Nothing," Emrys was quick to say as the sound of steps reached them, "I'm staying behind, leave with Aethel, someone has to hold them back."

Morgana's heart stopped, Emrys had to come with them, it was a must in her plan.

"You'll meet us there, won't you?" she tried, doubtful.

A soft smile graced his features as he caressed her hand, "I will."

-.-.-.-.-.-.

The force of the lighting that hit the shield was enough to push Jonathan backwards dragging Valerie with him. The girl felt the heavy weight of the boy's back above her and heard him stand up as fast as he could muttering a series of rushed apologies with pink cheeks.

Nimueh's eyes turned to them, glaring with intensity until her eyes noted the swords on Gabriel and Audrey's hands. She rose an eyebrow and a twisted smile graced her features

She snapped her fingers and three knights rose from the ground covered in stone and grass. They looked like if someone had left an armor abandoned and nature had grown around it just as the castle where they were kept in withered.

Their formation in which they approached them broke as they rose their mace, sword and warhammer each aimed at Gabriel, Audrey and Valerie. Valerie took a step back, the bracelet trembling in her hand as she turned it into the sword, the knight with the sword aiming at her, swinging its sword barely a couple centimeters above her head. Gabriel had managed to push Audrey who stared at the figures in shock and take himself out of the way before any of the other two knights could land any deadly blow.

The next time the largest of the knights aimed at Valerie, she managed to block the hit with her sword. She felt her feet drag just enough to stop herself from falling face flat onto the mud, however, the second she regained her equilibrium was enough for the knight to brush the side of her blue t-shirt. There was a burning sensation and Valerie hissed in pain as she shook herself and aimed at the knight, who took a step back to avoid the girl's sword.

"Jonathan we'll have to get an explanation of how exactly did you manage to piss her off." Gabriel's voice resonated in Valerie's ears, the knight avoided the hit of her sword, but she was able to see out of the corner of her eye that Gabriel and Audrey were not doing much better.

Audrey was standing as close to the knight as humanly possible. The knight was trying to avoid the girl's sword pressing to put distance between them while Audrey did her best to avoid the knight's mace, moving as she saw fit. Gabriel was in a similar position dragging, jumping and doing whatever he could to stop the knight from landing any deadly blow that would either knock the lights out of him or chop his head off.

"I know how annoying you can be, but did you not know that you were not supposed to rise her murderous intent?" Merlin's voice rose as he knelt on the ground, trying to whither the plants Nimueh made grow unnaturally. Valerie felt her heartbeat rise as she fell to the floor, rolling to avoid the knight's sword from landing on her chest.

She crawled, reaching for its leg pulling it until the knight was on the floor, then she nailed the sword on its stomach. The stone rattled falling back to the ground.

The steps of the knight with a Warhammer came to a halt as it froze from the waist down, Valerie turned to see Jonathan's eyes glowing and his eyebrows closely knit together. The knight tried to get out of its hold, but not before Gabriel was able to push the sword were its stomach would be and push it upwards. The top crumbled to the floor but the bottom part remained standing. Gabriel let out a deep breath of relief, looking at the bottom half of the knight in curiosity before smiling widely at Valery with a thumbs up.

"I didn't give her what she wanted and she's being a fucking brat!" Jonathan's voice resonated, a shied raising on top of Audrey.

"What did she want?" Audrey questioned, her sword hitting the knight from behind before it had the chance to turn and aim the mace at her. At first, she stared at the knight in confusion before a small proud smile rose to her face.

With her heart beating fast, Valerie still held her sword in her hand, looking around as her aunt and Merlin did their best to repel Nimueh's magic and stopping from reaching either of them

Jonathan sighed, kneeling on the ground, "To put it simple, me and for me to do something for her"

"What?" there was a brief hint of amusement in Gabriel's voice. Valerie's heart skipped a beat, her eyebrows knit together her mouth turning into a line. Jonathan's eyes glowed golden before he softly mumbled a curse word. He lifted his hands from the ground with a wrinkled nose, before sitting, frustration written in his face.

"She says she's my mother, as in, brought you to this world mother, and she wanted me to open a portal and to follow her to some magical land where everything is good and nice."

His eyes glowed golden as he pressed his hands on the ground yet again. Valerie's heart sank in her chest, her eyes following the direction Jonathan was looking at. The trees twisted, the branches tangling in front of them creating a wall between them and Nimueh. There were a few cracks through the wall from where Valerie was able to see what was going on even if it was mostly covered by the branches. She saw Nimueh pulled down, back into the water.

"And why didn't you do that?" Audrey's hesitated, Valerie had felt her eyes on her merely a few seconds ago.

The boy rose from the ground slowly, Valerie heard Merlin and her Morgana approaching, her aunt questioning if she was alright as Merlin tried to heal the injury and re-attach the fabric that had been cut by the creature Nimueh had created.

Jonathan's shoulders dropped, all eyes on him, "Because my life is here," he shrugged, his eyes briefly catching Valerie's and she felt her heart skipping a beat even if she wasn't sure why, "And because I don't know how to do that."

Confusion clouded the teenagers' faces.

"You don't know how to do what?" Morgana pried.

"Open a portal, she thinks I can do it, which is too farfetched, for fuck's sake I don't know how to do half the shit I'm supposed to do and she wants me to make a bloody portal that will take her to a land from where she was kicked out from."

"Can't you do the thing you did when you almost flooded the basement?" Gabriel's voice rose, Valerie knew what he meant, and by the discomfort in his face, it seemed like Jonathan did too.

"I don't control what happens during those, or when I get those."

"Jonathan, you can do a portal," Morgana spoke, all eyes turned to her, Merlin's eyes were deep in concentration, but he nodded, "I've seen you open a portal, or at least trace one."

All eyes were back on Jonathan who took a step back and looked at Morgana as if a pair of wings had come out of her back, "What?"

"I know what a portal looks like, I've made enough of them myself to recognize them and what you did the first time you lost yourself in nature's magic was one." Morgana explained "nature's magic can't do anything you wouldn't be able to do, it knows your limits."

"Could he open one? If he does, she'll leave, won't she?" Valerie's voice resonated. A wail reached their ears, Valerie turned to see the trees growing with each attack Nimueh tried to pass through them, and what little seemed to be close to approach them was quickly diverted by Merlin.

Morgana crossed her arms, "It's not exempt of risks, they require a lot of energy and a lot of control...."

"Which Jonathan doesn't have," Gabriel pried, putting an empathetic hand on Jonathan's shoulder

"Exactly," Merlin nodded.

"Releasing such amount of magic at once can certainly be a risk, especially when he can't remember his first attempts of doing something like that," Morgana continued, lips turning into a line and eyebrows closely knitting together.

"I'll take the risk," Jonathan tried to make his voice as confident as possible. Valerie's eyebrows fell when she noticed his hands were trembling, but his eyebrows were furrowed as he tried to put his best attempt at a brave face he could muster, "If you guys think I can do it and if it means pushing her away I'll do it."

"First you have to learn the common tongue."

Valerie tilted her head, "The what?"

"Magic has a common language across all the people who can use magic, all the big spells use it, and certain necromancy spells do too and it's necessary to open portals," Morgana explained.

"How did you learn it?" Audrey questioned.

"My grandmother taught it to me," Morgana was quick to say, the curious faces of four teenagers focused on her, "but it's not all you need to open a portal, you need a connection to the place to where you'll open it, doing it without the connection is not only extremely hard but also it carries a high risk for the person who opens it." Morgana added.

Jonathan shifted uncomfortably, hands in his still wet pockets.

"You can't open a door without a key, I guess." Valerie mumbled.

"Now, Jonathan I need you to close your eyes, if you are sure you want to do this," Morgana spoke softly, Jonathan nodded.

Morgana put a hand in the side of his head and the other in the back of his neck, her eyes glowed blue, Jonathan's turning golden soon after. They stayed like that a couple of seconds and once they let go, Jonathan tumbled, holding onto Valerie for balance.

"Fuck my life." Jonathan mumbled, holding the side of his head, letting go of Valerie and standing straight, shutting his eyes tight and opening them again as if he was just getting used to the morning light after waking up.

Wood breaking filledValerie's ears. She turned in the direction of the sound only to see the treesthat had worked as a barrier were snapped in half and sunk in the lake.

A.N.

A new chapter! I hope you enjoy it! If you do, please consider leaving a vote or a comment. Have a lovely day!