concoursec | Magic in the Quad

Entry tags:

Magic in the Quad

Character(s): Merlin and Rapunzel
Location: The Quad
Rating: G
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed.
Summary: After talking to Rapunzel on the BBS, Merlin comes to the quad to meet her in person (and maybe, see some of her magic).

Merlin entered into the Quad, looking around to try and find the girl he'd talked to on the 'bbs'. The girl with magic, who'd had to hide in a tower because of it. The girl who it had been all to easy for Merlin to emphasize with.

Although the tricky thing was, Merlin didn't have a clue what Rapunzel actually looked like. She'd said that her magic would be obvious to anyone who saw her, but Merlin didn't know what that actually meant. He should have asked her what to look for, back when he was still at the library and reading all of the writings come up like magic on the computer.

"Rapunzel?" he called out, hoping that she was here somewhere.

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"No, you don't understand. Not Uther. He'll never change his mind, not ever," Merlin said, trying to take a deep breath. He gave Rapunzel a shaky smile. "Thank you. I just...I need to be careful." And not just about his own magic. If he used even the kind of magic that they had here...

But then he was blinking at Rapunzel in confusion. "Your friend is a chameleon?!" So much for feeling relieved that she'd had someone looking after her. How could a chameleon protect a human girl? "...He's wouldn't happen to be a magic chameleon, would he?"

"You sure if he sees other ways magic can be used....?" Rapunzel tried softly, almost pleading in her empathy with Merlin and his situation. "Right. Well, he might not show up. Nobody seems to know who will come here next, so you might not need to worry about seeing him here."

Rapunzel gave a light laugh, shaking her head. "No. He's really just a chameleon, Merlin." But she did place great importance and trust and love on her best friend, even if he wasn't human.

"Uther's already executed plenty of people who were trying to use magic for good. To him, all magic is the same," Merlin explained. "But I sure hope he won't come here."

If Merlin was lucky, he'd be the only one from his world to come here. Although he was really going to miss everyone...

"Did you have any...other friends? Apart from the chameleon?" he asked, concerned. If Rapunzel didn't have anyone else...that tower would have been really lonely.

"Well, I'm glad you're safe from that for now, at least?" because Rapunzel thought Merlin seemed really nice and it was just...wrong to kill people for something they couldn't help, in her eyes at least. Even considering the circumstances and reasoning behind it, the good intention that nobody else would be killed like the King's wife had been.

"Other friends? No. I mean, besides Flynn Mother was the only one I saw. Her and Pascal. Mother kept me in the tower to protect me, so it was quite...out of the way. It's not like we had visitors around." That would have kind of defeated the purpose of keeping Rapunzel hidden, after all.

"For now," Merlin agreed. Although Rapunzel shouldn't worry too much - as long as Merlin's magic was secret, he was safe.

"You shouldn't have had to be all on your own like that though," Merlin said. "Couldn't your mother have brought someone to visit every now and then?"

Rapunzel shook her head at that question, her gaze at her feet for a brief moment, running her fingers through her hair. "No. It would have compromised our location if she brought people over to see me. Nobody was supposed to find me and know where I was." The fact that Flynn managed was amazing in and of itself, really. He was the first, and Rapunzel had been there all but from birth since Gothel kidnapped her.

"If no one ever came, how were you able to use your ability to heal?" Merlin said, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. If Rapunzel never left, and no one ever game to see Rapunzel... "You wouldn't be able to heal anyone if you never them in the first place."

"I helped Mother. I sang for her and kept her young. And I helped heal Pascal when we first met when I was little." And she had helped Flynn. Eugene. After he hurt his hand on the rocks trying to find a way out of their cave-in with the water filling up.

Merlin paused. "...Your mother? The one who said you needed to stay in the tower to be safe?" he said slowly. He'd thought that with Rapunzel's magic that keeping her hidden had to have been the best thing for her, but now he was starting to wonder if that wasn't quite right at all...

"Yes. Mother always got me to sing for her when she was tired." Rapunzel was naive enough that she hadn't quite clicked to the real implications and contradictions of Mother Gothel and her warnings. Being hidden kept her safe, true. But it also meant she couldn't share her gift, as protective as Gothel was over her 'flower'.

"So your mother had you keeping her young and wouldn't ever let you talk to anyone else," Merlin said, something hard creeping into his voice. "She kept you close so you could sing to her when she felt tired."

"Yeah. Pretty much. She never found out about Pascal. Or, she didn't seem to mind him if she did. But it....wasn't so bad." Rapunzel exclaimed, trying to reassure him and herself at the same time. She's seen and learnt so much since leaving the tower, but she does in some ways miss the familiarity of her tower. Knowing she was safe there. Rapunzel did not seem to glean on what troubled Merlin so much. She has yet to figure out the truth about Gothel at this point.

"If it wasn't so bad, then why did you leave?" Merlin said. "Would you really want to go back there, after you've seen what it's like outside?"

"I....I'd been dreaming of seeing those floating lights--the lanterns for years. I have to see them, for myself. In person, not just from my window." she exclaimed determinedly, before seeming to shrink under her uncertaincy at the next question he asks. "Y-yes! No? I don't know.....it's...complicated." she still had yet to decide what to do once she fulfilled her dream to see the lanterns. To stay, to go back. If she stayed, what would she do, where would she live?

"You should be able to see lots of things in person," Merlin suggested. "Not just the lights. You don't have to stay locked in a tower all the time to stay safe."

"I did see a lot! The snuggly duckling pub, Corona...." she paused, biting her lip a little. "I know I don't have to go back. I'm....still deciding, I guess. What to do." a hand running through her hair as she frowns. Leaving and not returning would upset Mother Gothel. But what Rapunzel had seen of the world was not all that bad as Gothel had painted it to be with her lies and stories and preying on Rapunzel's fears.

"...The snuggly duckling pub?" Merlin repeated, looking at Rapunzel with a bemused and incredulous expression (and possibly just a bit of repressed snigger).

"Whatever you do, it should be your choice," he said, turning more serious. "Not your mother's."

"Yes! The guys in there....looked a little scary, but they're really quite nice once you get to know them! We didn't have time to have any of their food though." Because, you know, her guide being a thief with the palace guards after him made travelling a bit crazy.

"....I know. I just...don't want to upset her." she thought back to her last meeting with Gothel. Given back the satchel, she had been both terrified of whether Eugene really would leave, and that Gothel knew she had gone, somehow.

"...You thought the people in a place called 'The Snuggly Duckling' were scary?" Merlin said, still resisting the urge to laugh. He couldn't imagine anyone scary going to a place with that name.

"If your mother cared about you, she'd want you to be happy," Merlin said, feeling guilty even as he said it. Because the more he talked to Rapunzel, the more he thought that maybe her mother didn't care at all.

"Well...they looked like ruffians! And thugs! The kind mother had warned me about. And they wanted to find a guard to hand Flynn over!" And with him as her guide, Rapunzel couldn't let that happen! But....initially at least, the men really had looked scary to Rapunzel. Even Flynn did at first.

"I didn't really mind being in the tower and all. I'm just....still deciding, not sure if I could go back after all that's happened." she was quiet, an arm across her stomach as she clutches at her other one at her side. Hadn't Gothel bought her all kinds of things to occupy herself with to make up for the loneliness? She had clothed, bathed, and fed her her whole life up till the time Rapunzel left nearing her eighteenth birthday, after all. Maybe Merlin was right. Gothel was just really worried and a bit paranoid after Rapunzel had apparently almost been kidnapped before.

"...Didn't you say that Flynn is a thief?" Merlin asked. If he was someone on the other side of the law...well, wanting to hand him over made a lot of sense, really. "Not surprising they weren't that bad though. I don't think that anyone who was truly evil could ever go to a tavern with that name."

"I never minded living in Ealdor too," Merlin added. "But I don't think I could live there again either. Not after being in Camelot."

"Yes, that's why they wanted to hand him over and get the reward money! But luckily I managed to talk to them and they helped us escape through a tunnel." Rapunzel exclaimed, proud whenever she remembers how well she had managed to handle the situation by asking about their dreams. "It was....okay. I do like ducks!"

She quieted at Merlin's added comment, still so indecisive and torn. Leaving would really break Gothel's heart, but at the same time, being outside and experiencing all of this made Rapunzel yearn for more.

"Lucky," Merlin agreed, although not knowing this Flynn at all he had no idea whether him not getting turned in was a good or a bad thing.

He had the feeling that right now, it wouldn't to any good to keep talking about Rapunzel's mother. "Thanks for showing me your magic," he said instead. "It really is amazing."

"Yeah. Without him I would have gotten really lost trying to find my way to Corona and all." Rapunzel exclaimed gratefull, relieved they had managed to get away all right.

"Oh! Yes. Yours was amazing too! I've never been able to--or seen anything like that before!"

Merlin beamed. He didn't think he could ever tire of people appreciating his magic.

"I should probably go - but I should see you around. It's not like this place is very big, is it?" Merlin said, grinning.

Magic in the Quad

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