The year: 921

[Location unknown]
Camelot,
Albion

[Merlin's POV]

After Akurra disappeared, neither I nor Morgana spoke for a while. The devastation it had caused left me speechless. Even my mind had grown silent. 

"Merlin, I...I lied. I didn't kill Akurra, but he was as good as dead." Morgana bit her lips, first doubt and then regret shone in her gray eyes, "When I approached it, there was a sword wedged in its heart. Despite hating it, I tried to help. It's a creature of magic, after all. It told me to tell you that it was dead."

Who could have done such a thing? No one I knew possessed such power. To kill a creature of ancient magic, as I had learned from Nimueh, was an unforgivable crime that had grave consequences. 

Morgana's confession had raised more questions. 

If Akurra was dead, who was this creature? And if, by some miracle, it had survived, why did it want to attack me? 

"Exactly." Morgana nodded, replying to my thoughts. Though I felt a little exposed, it didn't matter. 

"Did you, by chance, do anything to piss it off?"

I ignored the vulgar word and shook my head, "I didn't do anything to anger it; if anything, it upset me! Had it not been for Akurra's lies, Arthur would still be alive."

Morgana went stiff. She lowered her eyes to where our feet were suspended in the air, "When did you see it last?"

With her having access to my mind, there was no point in lying to her, so I decided to tell her the truth, "On my way to Lake of Avalon, a day after I...I used the killing curse on you." 

I was afraid that bringing up that encounter would anger and upset her again, but it didn't. It seemed like she had made peace with it.

She pulled in a breath (it seemed totally unnecessary, for we had no lungs) and nodded. Shifting closer, she tilted her head to her left. "Merlin, why haven't you asked me how I survived? Aren't you curious? Don't you want to know?"

Her actions made me want to pull her into my chest, but scared of earning another slap, I resisted the urge and discarded the thought. Lowering my eyes, I replied. "I do want to know. But I don't think I am entitled to it. Not only did I not save you, I... if only I hadn't broken your trust... " I trailed off, losing the will to defend my actions.

As expected, she drifted away and turned her back to me. I deserved it. After all, I had turned my back on her when she needed me most. 

"I would still have turned dark," she muttered, dejection dripping from every syllable. "Don't blame yourself. You had your destiny, and I had mine. If not you, someone else would have done it." A sob left her, breaking my heart into a million pieces. 

"I don't think so." I countered, needing her to understand that all was not lost and that it was never too late to change for the better. "You had good in you. I believe that you still do. It's just buried under hate and distrust." I wanted her to face me but lacked courage to ask her. 

"Thank you, Merlin," Morgana muttered. She looked over her shoulders and smiled. And just like that, memories of us together- doing everything we could to help justice prevail under Uther's tyrannical rule- flooded my mind.

"I didn't think...I didn't think you would remember how we were back then." Her voice broke; her eyes filled with remorse.

I reached for Morgana but stopped before I could embarrass myself like I had done not long ago. My hands fell to my sides. For a few undecided moments, it remained there without purpose. "I don't need to remember them. I never forgot them in the first place, Morgana." My eyes took in the charred earth around us and contemplated how to put into words the feelings I had always buried deep inside, feelings I hadn't even dared to admit to myself.

"Morgana," I gathered my courage and decided to just have a go at it unprepared. After all, that was my style of dealing with sticky situations all along, wasn't it. 

However, I didn't get any further, for, just then, Morgana's brows knit together. She pointed to a rock at the far end of her line of sight. "What do you make of that?"

"It's a rock, obviously, Morgana-" I shut my mouth with a snap and amended my statement, "What do you think it is-"

"Don't patronize me, Merlin," her tone was laced with irritation. "Just go back to your sarcastic self. It's as refreshing now as it was back then."

"It was refreshing!?"

"Why do you think Arthur kept you around, huh?"

"Because of my great personality?" I stood straight. Puffing my chest like I was one of Arthur's gallant knights, I directed my most charming smile at the woman I had tried and failed to impress since day one.

My charming facade accomplished naught. Morgana rolled her eyes. "No, you idiot. It was because he knew that you wouldn't take his shit. You would call a spade a spade. Nothing more. Nothing less."

I didn't know how to react to her insult-wrapped compliment. I went with an "Oh, is it. I would have never guessed."

It made the lady smile. Now that was refreshing. 

The smile, though, did not stick; she glanced at the rock again, "What I meant earlier about the rock," she clarified, "is that when we started dueling, I don't remember the rock being here."

I turned in all four directions and came to the same conclusion. Morgana was right. We were not where we should have been. I sidestepped her and observed the rock. It was at this precise moment that it hit me where we were. With that realization came another question: how had we gotten here?