Wishful Thinking - Merlin [Under Construction]

Torture

As you can obviously tell, by the title, there is torture in this chapter. There is no graphic violence, but there is violence.

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     "Who is Emrys?" Morgana shrieked.

     "The most powerful mage in the world, and the one who is destined to reunite magic to the land of Albion."

     Morgana let out a frustrated sigh. "Are you going to tell me who that is?"

     Merlin spat on the ground.

     "Merlin, just think about it! Emrys can bring magic back to Albion much faster with me by his side! He is the most powerful man alive! I'm not even sure if he is a man, but he is obviously loyal!"

     "Yeah," spat Merlin, "unlike some people."

     Morgana's eyes narrowed as she stepped forward. Her gaze was cold. 

     Merlin didn't flinch.

     "Do not think that I don't understand loyalty, just because I've no one to be loyal to." Then, the witch cracked a whip upon Merlin's chest, over and over again.

     The warlock's vision blurred, and he barely noticed when Morgana had stopped hurting him and left the room.

     While the witch was gone, Merlin pondered what Morgana said. Would she really join him? Or was she plotting to kill him? Were the visions really what she wanted, or what she wanted Merlin to want?

     A sharp pain jolted through Merlin's head. It hurt, but Merlin was used to the pains. They had been occuring for about a year.

     Suddenly, Morgana stepped back into the cell, with an engraved box. "Do you like it? I enchanted it myself." She grabbed a small jewel, a ruby, from inside the compartment, and pressed the point of it into Merlin's wrist.

     Merlin screamed. He screamed as if he didn't care about dignity or if anyone heard him. It felt as if a million knives were tearing into his skin at once. Everything hurt like hell, and Merlin just couldn't seem to black out. He didn't think the pain would go away. It was worse than the whip. But there was no blood. Just pain. Nothing could help him. Finally, it stopped.

     "Merlin," Morgana taunted, "you have quite the vocal chords!" She raised an eyebrow and smirked.

     Merlin didn't have the energy to snap back a retort. He just stared angrily into nothingness.

     Morgana tilted her head. "I see."

     "Do you?" Merlin commented sarcastically.

     "Yes. Since you are obviously not going to tell me who Emrys is, I'll just have to let you go... I mean, you're of no use to me."

     Merlin lit up at this, but quickly pulled back down to Earth. "Why?" He asked, suspicious.

     Morgana smirked. "Arthur's almost here as we speak. When he sees you here, weak and alone, he will try to rescue you. Then, he will see you die, slowly and painfully. He will mourn, and he will be weak. And Camelot will be ripe for the picking. All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put Arthur together again." She said, taunting Merlin with every word.

     The warlock could not die, but Morgana didn't know that. However, when her plan didn't work, Morgana would just kill Arthur. Merlin could not let that happen.

     What would Morgana do if she found out he was Emrys? Would she keep him here to torture, or would she actually attempt to persuade him to join her? After everything Merlin had done against her, and everything he had not done for her, could Morgana forgive him? Did Merlin want her to?

     Morgana looked at the boy for a while, waiting for him to speak. After a moment of silence, she began to leave the cell.

     "Wait," Merlin called after her in a defeated tone, "I'll tell you whatever you want. Just leave Arthur out of this. Please," he begged, his voice cracking.

     "In the morning," she said with an evil smirk, "you can tell me everything you want."

     Morgana left Merlin in his cell, by himself.

     Merlin sometimes wondered why he never told Arthur about his magic. If Merlin could have used his magic in front of Arthur, he might not have been taken.

     The warlock did not know how much longer he could stand everything. Not just the torture, but pretending to be someone he was not. Merlin had no one to talk to or confide in after Gaius died. As a result, he lied to everyone. He hated lying, but it was necessary. Merlin knew that.

     Lately, though, Merlin had been having difficulty controlling his magic. That made Merlin have to lie more frequently.

     Merlin had no clue why, but, if he did not do magic frequently, the magic overflowed, causing him to involuntarily cast spells.

     In fact, just as Morgana left, Merlin felt an explosion of pain, as, somehow, he subconsciously attempted to create a fireball. Merlin's bindings turned his magic upon himself, causing Merlin to, literally, experience a heartburn.

     The warlock was sure that he was losing his mind, that he was finally going crazy. He wasn't only casting spells on accident: just before Gaius died, Merlin began to see and hear things no one else heard.

     Merlin couldn't wait until Arthur got on with reuniting Albion, so he could go live in a cave and be insane by himself, without hurting anyone.

     But he had to wait, just until he escaped.

     Yet, a piece of doubt always came through. A little thought at the back of his head, the kept him sane, yet insane, stable but broken.

     "You cannot fight so many monsters, conquer so much evil, without becoming the same evil you seek to destroy."

     And, indeed, Merlin felt the darkness, growing within him.