LOTS - CARA/DAHLIA

Restored

merrykk

Title: Restored

Fandom: Legend of the Seeker

Pairing: Cara/Dahlia (subtextual Cara/Kahlan)

Rating: PG

Length: ~1100

Spoilers: fix–it episode tag for 2x22 “Tears”

Summary: Zedd’s magical meddling is too much even for Cara’s body to handle, and things must be set back to rights.

Notes: This is to fix the shoddy storytelling of that finale. God, Zedd is such an idiot, and I believe that this is what happens right after the credits roll.

Restored

merrykk

The Keeper was defeated—now it was time to go home. Richard went for the horses, leaving the other three. Her smile so wide that she thought she might melt from happiness, Kahlan turned to ask Cara if she would come to Aydindril with her.

But the sickened look on Cara’s face made her pause, and her happiness fell heavily in her stomach. The usually–strong face looked pale, her eyes glazed. “Cara?” Kahlan asked, and stretched out her hand.

Looking as if she might throw up, Cara crumpled to her knees, eyes rolling back in her head. “Cara!” Kahlan called out, terrified as she knelt at the Mord’Sith’s side and found her hand clammy and twitching. This couldn’t be happening, not to Cara. Cara who was so strong, who nothing could change for good, should not be falling apart. Kahlan couldn’t bear it.

“Oh no…” Zedd murmured above her head.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Kahlan asked, clasping Cara’s hand and cradling her head in her lap even as the woman shook uncontrollably.

“I’ve done this,” Zedd said, face and voice twisted in torment as he knelt on the other side of Cara, resting his hand on her arm. “The world wasn’t always like this. I changed it once to undo a magic done to Cara, but it damaged the whole world. When I changed it again, I thought I was fixing her.”

“Fixing her of what?” Kahlan just stared at him in shock, wondering if this was the Zedd she knew. Even if it was not arrogance worthy of the Keeper, how did you fix someone like Cara, someone who needed no fixing?

Zedd grimaced. “I don’t know.”

Limbs tangling in a trembling mess, Cara gasped, “Kahlan.” Her eyes fluttered open as Kahlan held her closer, her lip twitching and her gaze darting. She managed to curl her fingers in Kahlan’s dress as if for stability. “What’s happening?”

Panic like a lump in her throat as she knew just how much of her heart Cara owned, all Kahlan could do was brush the tangled golden hair from Cara’s white face and look to Zedd.

“All I did was damage Cara, but that can be changed,” Zedd explained. “All three spells—Darken Rahl’s and mine—they are still within her, as magic. Tearing her apart right now, instead of keeping her as who she is. I need to restore her to be untouched by our magical meddling.”

Kahlan didn’t understand. Magical meddling? What spells? What had Zedd undone? But her confusion didn’t matter—Cara jerked in Kahlan’s arms, her strong jaw tightening and a whispery groan escaping her throat. Kahlan kept her arms wrapped tightly around her and whispered sharply, “Do it, quick.”

She didn’t pay attention to what Zedd said as he chanted over her. Kahlan’s friend lay in her arms, magic running chaotically through her system that was too much for even Cara. As the magic began to work, she bent closer to press their foreheads together. “You’ll be fine,” she whispered, but it was more so that she could believe it herself.

Thunder clapped overhead, and a cold wind caught Kahlan’s hair. Zedd’s chanting grew louder, and the warm pulse of energy shot into Cara, and through Kahlan as she touched her. Even with her eyes closed the green light blinded her, making her gulp in a frantic breath. Cara froze in her arms as the energy burned in the surrounding area—she gasped for air—and then the world felt like it was spinning. Clinging to the woman she needed to be safe, Kahlan rode the whirling sensation until it stopped with a jolt. Cara collapsed limply in her arms, her face soft as it fell against Kahlan’s arm.

Kahlan blinked, air free in her lungs again. Her heartbeat still pattered as she pulled back to look at Cara and thought that it must not have worked. Cara’s face was still, not as pale, but, “Zedd, shouldn’t the world be changed?” Kahlan asked.

“Perhaps not,” Zedd said even as he frowned. “If the magic was drawn out, then perhaps the worlds were joined, with Cara’s true self writing the proper story to overcome the rest.”

Kahlan waited with bated breath, not understanding. Cara didn’t move yet.

“What has happened?” came an anxious voice from behind her.

Kahlan turned to see Dahlia running up the stairs, brow furrowed and lips tight in such full emotion that Kahlan realized that Cara hadn’t been wrong about her. Dahlia moved quickly to Cara’s side, touching her forehead with concern.

“Dahlia?” Zedd’s voice sounded incredulous.

Frowning, Kahlan turned back to him. “What is it, Zedd?”

“How is Dahlia still here?” Zedd asked in bewilderment.

Dahlia coughed in a breath, nearly hurt, and Kahlan stared. “Cara brought her back to life, remember? After we broke through Rahl’s magic?”

Zedd looked at all three of them. “That wasn’t true five minutes before, Kahlan.”

Glancing down at Cara, Kahlan then looked back at Zedd. Her stomach flipped a little. “So there was a change after all?”

“What change? What is he talking about?” Dahlia demanded with suspicious eyes. “What is wrong with Cara?”

“Nothing now, we hope,” Kahlan told her, and saw a relief in Dahlia’s eyes that the Mord’Sith would not say in words. It reminded Kahlan of Cara from so long ago—it gave her hope.

“So the Keeper was destroyed even with such a change as that,” Zedd murmured.

“What is he going on about?” Dahlia asked irritatedly, her gloved fingers stroking Cara’s forehead with repetitive urgent movements.

Kahlan shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Cara stirred in her arms. Dahlia moved Zedd out of the way, drawing near so that Cara lay between the two women.

“Kahlan?” Cara asked, eyebrows rising as she tried to sit up. “Dahlia?”

“Are you all right?” Kahlan asked, putting her arm to her shoulders as the blonde sat up. “Do you remember the magic?”

“Why was I lying on the ground?” Cara asked with a puzzled blink. “And don’t be foolish, magic doesn’t work on a Mord’Sith.”

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Dahlia said, with a slight nod as she combed Cara’s loose hair neatly behind her ear. “But something happened—I am glad you are safe. Apparently I should not leave your side even for a moment.”

“That’s absurd,” Cara informed her, but not harshly.

Kahlan just smiled a little. Whatever Zedd remembered, it couldn’t be important. The world was well, and there was hope for tomorrow.

“I do not need your help to stand,” Cara grumbled as she got to her feet, color returning to her face and her limbs solid again.

Dahlia gave Kahlan a dry look over Cara’s shoulder as they also stood, and Kahlan just shook her head with a smile. Cara was Cara.

~ ~ ~