The Future of Camelot

Destiny Comes Again

"How are things going with Morgana?" Arthur asked after Morgana and Gwen left. "She seems to be becoming a lot more like her old self."

"Good, I think," Merlin replied. "She seems more comfortable around me than she did at first."

"You seem happier, too," noticed Lancelot.

"Of course," said Merlin. "My friends are back." Arthur pulled himself off the couch and sat beside Merlin, clapping him on the back.

"You were very brave," he said. "None of us knew about how much you helped, and yet you still continued to help us."

"I knew," Lancelot put in. Arthur stared at him.

"You told him, but not me?" asked Arthur in fake hurt. Merlin rolled his eyes.

"He wasn't quite as blind as you were," Merlin said. "He found out the first time we met. It took you nine years. And I had to tell you."

"Oh, shut up, Merlin."

"I'm not even your servant anymore, and I never did what you said, anyway. Why do you think I will start now?" asked Merlin with a grin at his best friend. Arthur's kingly pride wasn't shocked anymore by this blatant rudeness from Merlin. All he said was,

"Go to bed, Merlin." They all went. Merlin brought his bag of clothes up the stairs. Lancelot took pity on Merlin, who checked each room for an occupant and found no vacancies.

"Upstairs," he said. Merlin thanked him and went up. There were four doors, but the one on the end was open and revealed a bathroom. Merlin's innate sense of direction told him that two of the rooms faced the lake of Avalon. He opened the first door. It was a green room with a door to a private toilet. In the bed lay Morgana. Merlin closed the door slowly and went into the other room. It was just like Morgana's, only red. He used magic to clear up the heavy layer of dust that coated the room.

Merlin opened his bag and changed into another shirt and more comfortable pants. He crawled into bed and fell instantly asleep.

Until he heard the screams. Merlin jumped out of bed and listened. Screaming came from the next room. Morgana's room.

He sprinted out of his room into hers. She was lying on the bed, sweating and flailing and screaming. Merlin ran up to her.

"Morgana! Morgana, you're dreaming!" He didn't have as much experience with her nightmares as Gwen did, but he knew enough to disregard his usual boundaries. He held Morgana's arms still and talked to her soothingly. With a final scream, she woke.

"Merlin!" she gasped, and hugged him. He rubbed her back and held on tight. "It was terrible," Morgana whimpered. "Morgause killed you. And Gwaine, and Arthur. I couldn't stop her! She made me watch! It can't be true, it can't!"

Merlin wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but he had seen her predict the future in her dreams too often to dismiss this vision. He knew how well preventing the future didn't work, so he did say,

"It was just a dream."

"It didn't feel like just a dream," Morgana said, her voice cracking. "But I understand. Changing the future only causes it. Let's pretend it was." Merlin kissed the side of her head softly and pulled away from the embrace.

"Can you go back to sleep?" he asked. There weren't clocks in her room yet, but he thought it must be about 5 in the morning because the sky was just getting that darkness before the dawn.

"I'm sorry, you must be tired. Go back to bed, I'll be alright," she said.

"No, I'm fine," he said. Morgana was in the middle of the bed, so Merlin had enough room to sit down beside her and stretch out his legs. "What do you want to do today?"