iamthefirechild said: She didn’t want to wake up. Awake was pain, and flame, and trying to do far more than she’d ever been capable of on her best day. She cried out intermittently in unconsciousness, something in her still trying to resist the seizures.
Merlin cursed silently as he reached his and Gaius’ chambers and found a note from Gaius saying that he had to take care of an emergency for one of the visiting nobles. Even with the bits of training he’d had in medical care, he had no idea what to do about seizures. He prayed that Gaius wouldn’t take too long and checked to see if the girl had a concussion—unconsciousness was serious, after all.
Somewhere under the pain and fear, she recognised someone trying to help, and fought the muscle spasms even harder, sliding up through layers of unconsciousness. She couldn’t quite surface, though; just close enough that some of the emotional energy diverted into fire again, limning her fingers in flame.
He jumped back slightly at the sight of the fire. Um, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need you to please put out the fire, he tried to tell her through telepathy. I really don’t want you to either get caught using magic or accidentally light the bed you’re laying in on fire. Biting his lip, Merlin tried to figure out what to do without panicking. He didn’t have enough control over his magic yet to risk any healing spells.
Oddly, though her hands were swathed in fire, nothing /caught/ flame. Slowly, the flames sank into her skin, leaving behind nothing but a memory — and then a muscle in her back contracted, pulling her into an agonising arch for long moments before letting her go. Another cry was torn from her lips while she strained against the spasm, strained to reach the surface of consciousness.
Okay, Merlin, calm down. Now would NOT be a good time to start panicking. He was starting to think that he shouldn’t have asked her to put out her flames, but the fact that she had put them out at all hinted that she might be close to consciousness. Merlin placed his hands lightly on her arm and, remembering that heat was supposed to be good for muscles or something, tried to use magic to subtly transfer some heat from the fire in the grate more directly to the girl’s muscles. Please, wake up if you can hear me. I know it probably hurts, but I need to know that you will be able to wake up again.
Consciousness meant pain. Involuntarily Summer projected, fear / pain / resistance / negation, but even her own body was resisting the coma now, and slowly her eyes slipped open. A wholly unfamiliar face hovered over her, dark eyed and dark haired and sharp with bones. In fact, nothing at all was familiar, and a whimper escaped her.