The woman in front of her still had a smile in her face while her eyes looked at Morgana in curiosity. The girl was trembling as she looked around, still trying to take in the new place where she found herself stuck. She would have recognized if she had been there before; but everything, from the size of the gladiolus and the waterlilies in the lake where people seemed to be resting to the way the streets were arranged was entirely unfamiliar to her.

Many pairs of eyes were focused on her and even if she hadn't been able to see it, she would have felt it. Her entire attention was in the woman in front of her whose hair was tightly held in a lot of small braids and held one of Morgana's hands in her own. Her blue eyes were almost calming the girl. Morgana couldn't focus on that and pulled her hand from the woman's grasp.

"This is unbelievable," she exclaimed, excitement ran through her voice, she clasped both her hands together. Morgana's eyes turned in another direction as she took a careful step back, "It's not unprecedented, but dear Gods, I didn't expect my son to reach adulthood, let alone have such a beautiful daughter. Aren't you the most precious girl in the all the known worlds." she smiled, her hands reaching to grab Morgana's cheeks. Morgana barely dodged her hands, staring at her with eyes wide and trembling hand. The woman almost seemed sad at Morgana's rejection, but her expression shifted into understanding.

"Your son?" Morgana managed to stammer.

The woman nodded. With a movement of the hand the people around her and Morgana returned to whatever they were doing before, "I left him in the human world almost forty human years ago, the poor boy was very sickly, it was unlikely he would survive for a long time, changing him pained me, but it had to be done,and now you are here and those blue eyes... they are simply unmistakable."

Morgana's eyebrows furrowed; her heartbeat quickened, "Who are you? Where am I? What is this place?"

This time, it was the woman who took a step back looking at the girl, mouth turning into a line, "You don't know any of that? How did you get in here?"

Morgana's bottom lip quivered, the tears she had been holding since her argument with Uther falling down after the woman's questioning, "I don't know..."

Maybe she shouldn't have tried to confront Uther on what he had done to her family. It was unforgivable, of course, but maybe what she should have done was take what little belongings she could carry with herself and run away to Regina or Viola's home in the hopes the parents of one of them would be kind enough to give her somewhere to stay. She could still send letters to Emrys for what was worth, and she would no longer have to bear that nausea that idea of seeing Uther again gave her.

Instead, she was a place she didn't know, with a woman who claimed to be her grandmother and she didn't have the slightest idea of how she had gotten there or how she'd leave.

Before she realized, the woman was grabbing her arms rubbing them tenderly, eyes soft. Morgana trembled, unable to look at her straight to the eye, "You poor thing, you must be so confused, it's only natural I suppose, with your father being a Changeling, I can't assume he would remember everything about his time here, why don't you come with me? I'm sure I can explain everything to you, welcome to Avalon dearie, my name is Derys, may I ask your name?"

She hiccupped, "Morgana."

"Such a lovely name." Derys smiled "and you have the family eyes, did your father pick the name or did your mother?"

"I don't know."

"How is that?"

Morgana's eyes focused on the end of her skirt, "They died a long time ago."

"Oh dear, how tragic is that, you poor thing, so young and without parents already, why don't you let me take care of you, I'm sure you must have a lot of questions, once we solve them, I'll introduce you to the court." The woman put a hand behind Morgana's back, inviting her to follow her. She decided to do so, she didn't have anywhere else to go anyways.

"What court?" Morgana questioned, trying to rub the remaining tears from her eyes.

"Our court of course, I did have business to attend today, but I'm sure the meeting can be postponed." She smiled, shaking her hand as if reuniting with the court was some menial task instead of being as important as the name made it sound.

"You said my father was a changeling, what happened to the real son of my grandparents?" Morgana rose her voice, Derys' lips turned into a line.

"Human children here are raised by us and grow up to become warriors, we haven't had a real battle in a very long time so nowadays they mostly just live among us, as our kind, except they have shorter life spans as humans do and some choose to return to the human world once they're older,"

The stopped in front of a house, the stone door had a sapphire above it, it was taller than the other houses Morgana had paid attention to. The walls were made out of the roots and branches of three trees that were at each side and behind it, even those had holes that resembled windows. Morgana stared at it for a few seconds, wondering who had built it.

Morgana's hiccups lessened, turning into a small knot in her throat, as the woman opened the door, "What are you?"

"That is a slightly rude question, but I'll let it pass," she smiled, pointing at a seat beside her for Morgana to seat, "I'm a fairy."

Morgana nodded, the information was easier to take in than what it probably would have been a few months ago, "Are there many fairies in my world, besides changelings?"

This time, the woman furrowed her eyebrows, "Not many, no, a few leave voluntarily, some just leave to make the change although that is by law, if you make the decision to want to change your child for another, you have to make the change yourself, others are banned from here, the last time it happened was around eighteen years ago, it's not very often that sort of thing happens."

"Why are people banned?"

The woman pursued her lips, tilting her head slightly as someone with brown hair arrived leaving a blue liquid in front of her and Morgana.

"It varies, and like I said, it doesn't happen very often. Vanishment is the worst punishment we give after all, it stripes people from their powers and their memories of this place," she muttered a soft thank you to the person serving them the food, "but in her case it was very particular, I don't think I've ever seen one like that."

Morgana took a sip from the liquid, it tasted different to anything she had ever tasted before. It was the right amount of sweet and refreshing, "What did she do?"

Derys' eyes darkened, her previous kind expression shifted, sending a chill down Morgana's back, "We found evidence she was fraternizing with the Fomorians,"

With his heart beating as loud as humanly possible Jonathan gave one look at Morgana and Merlin, searching if there was any attempt in them to tell him that they had come up with a far better plan before walking towards Nimueh. Valerie walked close to him, and he was aware any attempt to dissuade the girl off would be met with refusal.

"Ree, it's better if you stay behind with them, we both know you're better with a sword, you'd do a far job better keeping Audrey and Gabriel safe than what Merlin can do," he tried, stopping for a mere second. He always forgot how he had to look down to look at her in the eye, but now it was almost as if that space was larger.

"I'm going with you," her voice didn't waver, her eyebrows furrowed, as if she was offended by the mere suggestion of staying. And knowing her, she most likely was.

"Ree..."

"I'm going Jonathan." she sentenced. Her voice as firm as steady as it could be, like a queen giving the most important of commands.

He hesitated, eyes shifting to the group he was leaving behind looking for any of them who would walk to them and help him convince the girl to return. They were hushing amongst themselves instead, "But Ree..."

"I said I'm going Jonathan and I'd rather stab you in the leg than have you go to her alone again, did I make myself clear?" She rose an eyebrow, shaking her sword in her hand. Jonathan sighed, giving her a single silent nod, lips pressed in a line.

His steps towards the woman were more firm and faster, matching the rhythm in which his heart was beating. He stopped at the edge of the lake, "Stop this!" Jonathan screamed at the top of his lungs, putting his hands over his mouth like a megaphone, whatever Nimueh had wanted to do came to a halt, Jonathan could feel it. Nimueh rose an eyebrow.

"I'll give you what you want," Jonathan muttered through clenched teeth.

He saw the woman's face shift, from the fury of before to an almost relieved and genuine surprise. She approached them as close as the edge of the lake allowed her to and she looked at Jonathan up and down, like a kid awaiting for their Christmas present. Her eyes then, were aware of Valerie's proximity and Jonathan was too, wary when the girl seemed to freeze under Nimueh's burning gaze.

"Stay close," he warned Valerie, she nodded, raising Excalibur.

"What is she doing here?" Nimueh spat.

Jonathan stepped in front of Valerie, but as if by instinct, she moved to the side stepping in front of him. If it was any other occasion, he would be admiring Valerie's willingness to stand up in the face of a fight. At that moment, all he felt was his heartbeat only raising when Valerie aimed the sword at Nimueh's chest, "Keeping an eye on you," she spoke.

Nimueh rolled her eyes, "Such an annoyance," she mumbled with boredom, with a movement of her hand, Valerie yelled as if she was pulled away by an invisible string, Morgana and Audrey hurried to her, making sure she wasn't hurt. The sword had fallen somewhere along the way.

Jonathan glared at Nimueh, his voice raising and the unsteadiness in her his hands leaving him as he pressed them in fists, "Why the fuck did you do that?" he spat.

Nimueh's eyes almost hesitated between him and the girl, "She's not necessary in any way, you said you were giving me what I wanted, I don't see why the Pendragon girl has to get involved."

Jonathan almost turned his back on Nimueh. He instead, took a deep breath and focused his energy in stepping above the lake's water, his eyes glowing golden with each step he took, aware that any misstep could make him sink.

When he was in the middle, Jonathan knelt on the water, brushing his fingers above it taking a deep breath to calm his beating heart, his eyes glowing as he began to scribble above the water in symbols whose meaning he now fully understood, trying his best to keep his mind in the moment. There would be no other opportunity for him to try it.

Each symbol glowed, one at the time, until the circle in which they were arranged did the same. The circle lifted and turned in what looked like a full-body mirror. The clear image his eyes caught from it was nothing short of mesmerizing, at least Nimueh had been honest about that. Trees and green fields extended as far as he could see, the sky was blue like no other and there were faint traces of people whose faces he was unable to see with clarity. He couldn't help but lean a little closer to get a better look at it, to at least remember what it looked like.

"There it is," Jonathan spoke shaking his head to bring himself back into the situation. He cleared his throat to get Nimueh's attention, unsure how long he'd be able to hold it up. Nimueh had a wide smile in her face and was looking at the boy with eyes lit up in the purest form of pride. Jonathan shifted uncomfortably pointing at the portal, "Now you're free to leave."

Nimueh stepped in front of him, "Stop being overdramatic, I don't see the reason to arm such a fuss about taking her away from something that's not her business." Nimueh spoke, Jonathan rolled his eyes, his feet pressed in the middle of the symbols hoping it was enough to keep it open, "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Nimueh put a hand in Jonathan's arm, tilting her head to the world now unveiled in front of him, it was beautiful, of course, but it wasn't his world.

Jonathan rolled his eyes, "I think I made it as clear as possible."

"A pity, I hope you enjoy this pathetic place, If you ever need me, or change your mind about joining me..." Nimueh began, Jonathan shook his head, his mothers coming to mind, "...Send a golden bird to go underwater, I'll know it's you and I'll come as soon as I see it."

Jonathan remained quiet, putting a half smile that came forced.

"See you soon Jonathan," she smiled, extending a hand towards him, Jonathan took it and shook it. He didn't like how that sounded, but he waited, until she had fully stepped through the portal to allow the amount of energy he was putting into the portal to drop.

When the portal closed behind Nimueh, the same magic that held him above the water gave up, letting him into the lake. He felt exhausted as never before in his life.

He swam even if his vision had filled with dark spots. At least until he was safe on shore again, where he just took a couple of seconds to regain his breath and stand up, coming out of the water almost dragging his entire body.

He blinked a couple times trying to get rid of the dark spots that clouded his vision. He turned back just to find a complete lack of evidence of what had happened. The portal was no longer open, and Nimueh was no longer in the lake. Even the broken trees or the scattered rocks had returned just as they were before the goddess began to attack them.

He closed his eyes and opened again wondering if everything had been a particularly strange dream and he would find himself on his bedroom dreading the idea of waking up to another day of school. If that were to be the case, he would tell Valerie everything about it when he saw her after school and they would laugh and his heart would flutter by just seeing her smile. He could also find Nimueh looking down at him with hatred at the unfulfilled promise and they would have to figure out a new way of getting rid of her, before she could harm someone.

Something clashed against him, making him fall and his first instinct had almost been to yell at that person to get off of him, his hair was wet hanging over his forehead nearly reaching little below his eyes, and his shirt was soaking, which would probably cause discomfort in whoever had decided to approach him. He was far too stressed at the possibility of Nimueh remaining there for him to tolerate other people more than necessary.

Yet, when his back hit the ground someone sat on him. He blushed when he recognized Valerie's figure. Warm brown eyes looking at him as she held onto his wet shirt, her hands pressed in fists. It was almost as if she was ready to punch the lights out of him any second.

"You fucking, gigantic idiot." her eyes were filled with tears, still, she was smiling. He didn't know why it was, but it was one of the best things in the world. She lowered her head, until it was leaning on his shoulder, her hands still pressed against his shirt ,"I thought you were going to leave me," she mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear.

His eyes opened wide, and a soft smile reached his features, his hand reached for the back of her head and the other reached for her back, and he held her tight and closer, ignoring the rest of the world around him.

"I'm here now," He assured feeling her press tighter.

A.N.

Hello Everyone! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you did, please consider leaving a vote or a comment. I hope you have a lovely day!