This takes place pre-season 4 and is just my attempt at exploring some of the ideas both raised and not raised in season 3.

A thick fog slowly rolled in amongst the stone grey pillars that seemingly stretched endlessly above the grey clouds that hung low overhead. An eerie silence hung over the empty ruins, a silence that was broken only by the occasional droplet of water causing a splash that would then echo loudly in the eerie landscape.

Taking in a deep breath, Arthur stood motionless in between the looming pillars, silently watching the dark figure that stood opposite him, quiet and unmoving. For a while, nothing happened, as the two figures wordlessly contemplated each other, their gazes never wavering, blue eyes on brown, unblinking and unchanging.

Finally, Arthur broke the silence with the question that had long been bothering him, "why did you do it?"

"Do you really need to ask?" came the scoffing reply.

"Yes," he answered simply, his desire to understand outweighing all other instincts for self-preservation as he stood there; watching his half-sister as she too, intently weighed him up in the fog.

Finally, after considering him thoughtfully whilst she turned over her own thoughts, Morgana took a step forward, and narrowed her eyes dangerously as she addressed her brother, "I did it, because I believed that Uther's persecution of my kind had gone on for long enough," she spat out angrily, venom rising in her voice, "a stance I still firmly believe in," she added, tilting her head upwards to look down at Arthur.

"I would have protected you," he said simply in response, his calm exterior seemingly unaffected by the angry stance of the figure opposite him.

"Would you of?" came the laughed response as Morgana took a step closer and closer to her brother as she began to circle him in a predatory fashion.

"Yes" was the confident response she received as Arthur continued to stand unmoving as Morgana slowly came to a stop behind him, thoughtfully looking him up and down. "You doubt my words?" he continued, dropping his head slightly to look at her dark figure out of the corner of his eyes.

"Yes" she responded simply, mirroring his earlier confident response, "I do doubt them," she added sinisterly, stepping up right behind him to whisper her message in his ear before striding past him.

"After all, you never could lie to me," she tossed back at him arrogantly, flicking her dark brown hair over her shoulder as she turned to face him. "I know you too well," she added in as an afterthought, eyebrows raised smugly as she looked him up and down.

"If you know me so well," Arthur began softly after a moment's hesitation, "then you should have known that you could've come to me," he finished angrily, his calm exterior diminishing as rage started to radiate off him. "You should have known that I would've protected you!" he finished, shouting out the words as his fists clenched in anger as his breathing intensified whilst he stared angrily at her, the agonizing hurt over her betrayal clear in the tense stance of his body.

"And how many times must I tell you that I could not have," Morgan responded with the same amount of venom in her voice as she stepped closer to her brother to stare him squarely in the eyes.

For a moment, neither moved, locked in a battle of wills and angry bodies, they stared defiantly at one another, their bodies radiating heat off of each other. Finally, Arthur broke the silence in a deadly, low voice.

"If that is what you believe," he whispered dangerously, dropping his head slightly to further look down at her, "then clearly, you don't know me at all," he finished before taking a step back and running his gaze disapprovingly up and down the long black dress that clothed her slender body.

Scoffing at his words and feeling his piercing gaze on her body, Morgana narrowed her eyes and struck her hand out to grab Arthur's chin by her fingertips. "If I didn't know you," she began sinisterly, her grip on his chin tightening with each word, "then how did I know that you would come back for me at Cenred's castle?" she asked, taking pleasure in the lost look that crossed his face, a look that brought a smug smile to her face and fuelled her next words as she pulled his chin closer to hers, "in fact, how do you think Cenred knew who to kidnap in order to draw you into his lair?" she finished, releasing his chin as she stepped back, taking further pleasure as Arthur stood in front of her, lost for words whilst his thoughts spun wildly as more details of the truth he had tried so hard to ignore sprang to the front of his mind.

"It hurts doesn't it," Morgana finally said, still revelling in Arthur's silence, "to have to acknowledge the truth about how one's so called family, could betray you so easily".

"I would not have turned you over," came the weak response as Arthur still scrambled to regain his conmpsure as he turned away from her slightly as if to shield himself from her words.

Opening her mouth in a wide smile, Morgana huffed as she took in her brother's defeated stance, "even now, you still stand by your lies," she said spitefully, tilting her head to the side before walking slowly over to him, "and if you cannot believe them," she whispered slowly, savouring each word as she saw the affect it had on him, "then how am I supposed to," she finished smugly before giving him a small smirk and taking a few steps backwards as he turned his head to look at her with sad eyes.

"Why?" he asked finally in a small voice, pain and hurt still evident in his eyes as he stared at her imploringly, begging her to lie, to not say the words she knew would hurt him the most, "why didn't you come to me?"

"Because you are your father's son," Morgana said, a look of disdain crossing her features as she turned to look away and instead stared into the gloom of the surrounding fog. "And you would never have chosen me over him".

"That's not true," he responded in a small voice, his body turning slightly from hers.

"Isn't it?"

For a while, neither of the half-siblings said anything as they both stared forlornly into their dank surroundings, their thoughts consuming them in the light of words that had, for a time, been kept locked away, neither willing to acknowledge their existence. Over and over in his head, Arthur pondered her words which rang consistently, reverberating back and forth in his head like a pounding headache. Would he have turned her in, would he really have given her over as easily as she suggested? Surely not, he reasoned with himself, all those times, he had chosen her over his father, the boy, freeing her from that cell…

"I did choose you," Arthur finally whispered softly, keeping his eyes fixated on a pillar half shrouded in mist, "I chose you when I helped you free that druid boy," he began, turning to look at Morgana as his voice started to build up, "I chose you when I freed you from that dungeon, when I went after the cure for Merlin because you asked me to!" he finished angrily, spitting the words out as he stared her down across the misty courtyard. "All our years together," he continued in a dangerous voice of his own, his eyes firmly pinning her down, "did they count for anything?"

"If our so-called years together had counted for something," Morgana finally countered, her eyes never wavering from Arthur's, "then why did I feel so alone, why did I feel like there was no-one in Camelot who could possibly hope to help, or even better, understand me" she finished venomously, spitting out the words as much of the anger, hurt and resentment she had felt during her years at Camelot came rushing to the surface.

The long held secret that had driven her to the point of despair and that had been the cause of so much pain and suffering filled the gloomy space between the two siblings as they stared at each other, one in hurt and anguish, and the other, in guilty recognition. For a while, no word was spoken as the two continued to stare at each other, Morgana, locked in an angry silence as she silently berated herself for revealing so much of her innermost thoughts to Arthur, whilst Arthur stood there, despondently piecing together the pieces of Morgana's actions over the last year.

"I did not know," Arthur finally said, filling the empty silence that hung between them, his eyes gently taking in Morgana as she continued to stand there, still locked in her internal bereavement.

"Tell me brother," Morgana eventually responded, her voice low and deep as she took a step towards him, "can you imagine, what it was like for me to have to live in Camelot, knowing that I was different, knowing, that the people who professed to love me, would have turned on me the instant, they found out that I had magic?"

Taking her in carefully, Arthur pondered his next words. A part of him, wanted to point out to her that her past actions, her use of magic and its evil nature, would have warranted such a response. Yet another part of him, remembered the Morgana that he had grown up with, the Morgana he had loved as a child. That part of him that he tried to deny, to cover up and pretend didn't still exist, wanted instead to protect her and remind her of their time spent growing up, of the familiarity with which they had once known each other, to pull her in and beg her for forgiveness for having been so far away from her during her hour of need.

Unable to face her piercing gaze any longer as she waited for his response, Arthur turned away and stared silently into the foggy distance, his mind clouded in much the same way as his present surroundings.

Smiling triumphantly for a moment, Morgana took his lack of response as validation of her point, until she took in the sight of his defeated stance, and the troubled lines of his shoulder, and recognised his internal signs of debate whilst simultaneously realising the effect her words had had on him. Watching him for a moment, Morgana considered rubbing her point in his face, knowing that at the present moment, he would be unable to respond, and yet, she found herself unable to do so. Emotionally tired from their argument, she consented to watch him, whilst she internally continued to bring her emotions that had been released at the same time she revealed to him her hurt from all her years spent at Camelot, back into the corner of her mind where she kept them locked up. Frowning for a moment, she pushed down angrily at the surge of emotion that defiantly rose up as she momentarily thought back to her happier times at Camelot before Morgause, and then angrily reminded herself how alone and scared she had felt the entire time, and used those emotions to remind herself of her hatred towards Arthur and his father.

"Where are we?" Arthur's quiet question startled Morgana, and she blinked rapidly to clear her thoughts and turn them back onto Arthur who stood facing away from her.

"Does it matter?" she responded loudly, her voice clear of an feeling as she stood tall in an attempt to hide her earlier internal confusion.

"Well how am I supposed to get back?" Arthur replied in a similar, emotionless voice, completely devoid of its usual arrogance and sarcasm as he turned around to look at Morgana.

"You wake up," came the simple response as Morgana turned around and started to walk away from him and deeper into the gloomy ruins, her dark figure slowly disappearing into the fog.

"Wake up, wait what?" Arthur responded confusedly, starting to turn around in a circle to try and see if anything in the dark gloom could offer any further explanation. Finishing his turn, he looked back to where Morgana had previously stood, only to discover that she had vanished. Setting off in a fast sprint, he headed off in the direction she had been heading, desperately calling out her name.

"Morgana?" he yelled out, stopping to catch his breath as he realised she was long gone.

"How do I get out?" he shouted again into the fog, a small sliver of panic setting over him as he turned around erratically, trying to gain his bearings as a thick darkness started to creep over the ruins, slowly hiding any trace of light.

"How do I get out?" he shouted again despairingly into the growing darkness.

"Through the door?" came Merlin's confused response.

"Merlin?"

"Arthur?"

"What are you doing here" Arthur demanded, looking around in the dark for his servant.

"Waking you up," Merlin responded, throwing open the heavy curtains, allowing a bright beam of morning sun to shoot in and flood Arthur's chambers with a warm, orange light.

In response to the sudden burst of light, Arthur groaned and shot his hands up in front of his face to shield his eyes. "Wait," he said confusedly, his brain still groggy from sleep, "how did I get here?"

"Well," Merlin started, coming over to stand in front of Arthur, "first, you flew in through the window over there," he paused, gesturing at the window he had just opened, "and then, you floated in and landed lightly on the bed to rest yonder head," he finished, beaming down at his master.

"Very funny Merlin," Arthur responded glumly, the magical reference striking a little too close to home. Sighing Arthur ran his hands through his hair and collapsed back onto his bed, replaying the vivid dream in his head.

"Merlin" he finally said, still laying stretched out on his bed, "do you think it possible, that, perhaps, when one is dreaming, certain, things might occur, and this is your minds way of trying to tell you something?" he asked in a slow voice before continuing, "or perhaps, when you are dreaming, your mind goes to places," he paused again, before taking a deep breath and continuing on carefully, "or people that you otherwise might avoid thinking about when awake," he finished, not moving from his position on the bed, his thoughts turning over in his head as he replayed the final moments of his conversation with Morgana.

"Well, I don't know much about the mind," Merlin began.

"Obviously," came the curt response.

"But I suppose it possibly that if something were troubling you, than dreaming about it might be the mind's way of coping," Merlin finished proudly, rather happy with his response.

"Merlin that is absolutely ridiculous," Arthur shouted out defensively, sitting bolt right up in his bed, "why on earth would anything be troubling me?" he added, turning to face his manservant angrily. "I mean really Merlin, the things you come up with!"

"I'm sorry?" Merlin replied confused, unsure of where Arthur's outburst had come from.

Seeing his look of bewilderment, Arthur sighed again and got up, "never mind, I should never have asked you such an obviously mind-boggling question in the first place" he finished, walking past Merlin to his changing screen.

"Well come on then," he shouted out from behind the screen, sticking his head around to look for Merlin, "are you going to do your job and help me get ready or not?"

"Yes, sorry, of course," came the mumbled response as Merlin shook his head in confusion, silently accepting Arthur's strange antics.

"Honestly," Arthur replied in an annoyed voice from behind the screen, "sometimes I wonder what I pay you for".

"So do I," Merlin answered back in a small voice from the prince's wardrobe, "so do I".

"What was that?" Arthur demanded, his head popping back out from behind the screen.

"Nothing, nothing at all," was the quick response Merlin gave whilst he quickly fished out Arthur's clothes for the day.

"I thought so," Arthur replied with a raised eyebrow as he returned his head to behind the screen and continued to get ready.

(xx)

Taking a deep breath, Morgana held out a hand to the cool stone and steadied her erratic breathing as she simultaneously clutched a hand to her stomach and bent over, the events of the dream still burning brightly in her mind. Straightening up, she breathed in deeply through her nose, as she silently demanded of herself how such a thing could have happened.

"Morgana, is that you?"

Morgause's weak voice caught Morgana's attention and broke her train of thought. Angrily pushing all thoughts of Arthur and Camelot to the back of her mind, she hurried through the dripping stone tunnel that smelled of lime and wet stone, and entered into the unnaturally lit cave where Morgause rested wearily on a pile of animal furs on the floor.

Lifting her head as Morgana came in, Morgause weakly lifted her hands from her place on the makeshift bed and held them out to Morgana who gently grasped them as she knelt down in front of her.

"Sister, I was worried, I did not see you in my dreams," Morgause began in a raspy voice as she sorely attempted to sit up, the effort clearly straining her.

Keeping her eyes downcast, Morgana responded with a mumbled "it did not work," as she quickly moved to help her sister sit up, and then gently eased her back onto the stone behind her. Watching Morgana carefully, Morgause took her in, and sensed the words that Morgana was holding back.

"What happened," she asked after she had regained her breath, patting the furs beside her indicating for Morgana to sit as she took her in worriedly, "did the dream-walking work?"

Sitting down next to her, Morgana breathed in deeply as she placed her arm around Morgause's thin shoulders, not wanting to share her failure with her sister, and yet knowing that she had to. Taking another deep breath, Morgana steadied herself, and answered in a wavering voice, "the dream-walking worked, only, you were not the one I visited," she finally said, turning her gaze away from Morgause and instead looking around at their empty surroundings in the dirty cave.

"Who then did you see," Morgause encouraged quickly, watching her sister worriedly, fearing where she might have gone. "You know you can always tell me anything," she added gently as an afterthought as she concernedly took in Morgana's silence.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Morgan opened them, and turned to face Morgause as she responded, her voice heavy with confusion, "Arthur, I, I saw Arthur… why did I see Arthur?" she finished, her voice becoming demanding as anger towards herself grew, "I had absolutely no desire to see him and yet I did!" she finished, her shoulders trembling as she opened her mouth to continue, however a swift look from Morgause cut her off and she turned her head to look down into her lap, her arm around Morgause's thin shoulders tightening as she took comfort from her sister's presence.

Watching her carefully, Morgause weakly reached over and gave Morgana a small peck on her cheek as Morgana turned to look at her, her face a mix of annoyance, hurt and confusion. "Dream-walking is a difficult art to learn, and you have not been doing it for very long," Morgause began in a compassionate voice, shushing Morgana's protests as she continued, "and you and Arthur, like it or not, have a bond".

"But I don't have a bond with him anymore," Morgana interjected furiously, ignoring her sister's protests, "I feel nothing for him now except hatred!" she finished angrily, nostrils flaring as she fuelled her anger at what had happened to her sister towards those she held responsible.

"You and Arthur are half-brother and sister, you grew up together, those kinds of bonds cannot be ignored, no matter how you may feel about each other," Morgause said softly, ignoring Morgana's outburst as she carefully chose her next words before continuing, "if anything, I am not surprised that your mind found Arthur's, dream-walking is strongest when we are connecting with someone with whom we are familiar," she finished, pushing down her own concerns about Morgana's closeness with Arthur's mind and instead focused on soothing Morgana. "We will try again, and you will succeed, it just takes time and practice".

Looking at her sister, Morgana smiled softly, and swallowed her response about Arthur, instead deciding to please Morgause by pulling her in for a hug to convince her that she was no longer worrying her about her dream with Arthur, knowing that to do so, would only put further strain on her already fragile sister. Holding Morgause close, Morgana closed her eyes, and pushed Arthur out of her thoughts and instead turned her mind to other matters, namely, their next move, and how she would get Morgause ready for the battle that was to come.

This is my first story so constructive criticism and any tips/hints/reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!