Comments: This fiction is about a possible way that Morgana's returns, I hope you like it. A big big big thanks to Augustmist for your help.
The months she had been away with Morgause she had learnt about her past and as she walked back to Camelot the hatred for Uther and Merlin ran through her veins, her eyes black.
She didn't want to return at all but Mordred and Morgause had convinced her that she should be Queen of Camelot, something she had secretly desired to be. She needed to become Arthur's bride and then kill the King, it all seemed so simple. Once she had become queen she would make sure that magic reigned again.
She stood near the gates of Camelot and took a few deep breaths ready to put on the necessary show.
The moment she walked through the gates, she passed out in front of the Guards as planned. As they carried her into the castle; her eyes almost refused to stay shut with her desperation to catch a reminiscent glimpse of the place she had once called home. As the news of her return spread through Camelot, Uther and Arthur arrived at her side.
Gaius wafted smelling salts and she slowly opened her eyes...before she had chance to take in the scene before her, she found herself being pulled into Uther's arms, she held him completely lacking emotion.
"You have returned!" he cried into her shoulder, she tried to muster tears; she thought about how Uther had murdered her father and some graced her cheeks.
He pulled back so he could look at her.
"I knew you would come back to us" Arthur hovered near and Uther stood to allow his son to hold Morgana.
Morgana thought about the man now in her arms, about her plan to marry him and she wondered how easy it would be to secure his affections.... her thoughts were disrupted by the appearance of Gwen.
Gwenstood there in shock her eyes awash with tears and her hand over her mouth.
As soon as Arthur noticed Guinevere he moved away from Morgana, allowing her to hug her; she felt love for her friend more than any other, her faithful maid who never let her down.
"Are you feeling well, do you hurt anywhere?" Gaius asked causing Gwen to let go.
"I am fine, just tired and hungry."
"Of course... I will fetch you some refreshments." Gwen squeezed her hand and off she went, taking one final look at her to check she was not dreaming and left.
Morgana noticed as Arthur watched Gwen leave.
"How did you escape?" Arthur asked.
"Now is not the time for interrogation Arthur, we must let her rest." Uther squeezed her hand.
"I would like that, we shall speak later?" Morgana was not in the mood for discussions now.
"Of course, Arthur," said Uther, turning to his son and lowering his voice. "I shall want guards outside her door constantly." Arthur nodded at this and Gaius managed to usher them all out to get some peace and quite.
"Morgana, I must admit I am surprised to see you." He always had a way of seeing through her.
"You are not pleased at my return?" she whispered huskily, managing to make her voice reflect her supposed illness.
"You mistake my words, I merely state that Morgause seemed to like you." He had heard all that passed from Merlin and knew that there was more than meets the eye about Morgause and Morgana's friendship.
"I suppose she did, but I am back now!" she replied coldly, all thoughts of masking her health gone from her riled head.
"I am pleased to have you back." Gauis did not fail to notice her change in tone at the mention of Morgause.
Merlin ran in and stopped in his tracks when he saw Morgana there. His blood ran cold; she had barely survived his poisoning.
"Morgana... You're back!" His legs went to jelly.
"Yes I am, Merlin," her words were filled with venom, which did not go unnoticed by Gaius; she did not want to push it further with Merlin as it could cause her more trouble than it was worth. Her sister had told her not to underestimate Merlin's powers.
"Good... glad to have you back." His words were strained; the air was thick.
Guinevere came in and put down a tray of food.
"You must be starving." she said, sitting on a chair near her mistress's bedside. Morgana's eyes were fixed on Merlin, Gwen looked between both of them and a shiver ran down her spine.
"Morgana...you must be hungry." she said placing a hand on her arm, causing Morgana to snap out of her staring match with Merlin.
"Thank you Gwen," she smiled sweetly.
The rest of the afternoon went well, Gwen helped Morgana bath and dress and she told her the lie about how she had escaped and Gwen filled her in about what had passed over the last few months, about the dragon and the many that had died.
Of course Morgana knew about this all, Morgause had hoped the dragon would do the work for them.
"What about you...how have you been, anything exciting happen?" Morgana had missed her friend.
Gwen thought about the last few months. After the dragon attack she had spent a few moments with Arthur mainly tending to his wounds, which he appeared to get a lot of lately.
"Gwen, you do not answer my question," Morgana was amused at Gwen's distant stare and the blush that tainted her face.
"Sorry… Nothing really has happened."
"Nothing?" Morgana raised her eyebrows.
"Well I have been working with Gaius more lately"Gwen changed the subject....something had always held her back from speaking about Arthur to Morgana and she was not going to start now.
"That's all?" Morgana asked looking out of the window down to Camelot.
"What more could happen in my life, I think a Dragon was quite enough." Morgana laughed at this.
"I suppose that was quite an adventure... May I ask you about Arthur?" at the mention of his name Gwen's heart starting beating faster and she was sure a guilty look passed her face.
"What about him?" Gwen tried concentrating on putting clothes away rather than making any eye contact that would give the game away.
"Any new developments in his life…? Any princesses on the horizon?" Morgana teased, she was not sure how she felt about seducing Arthur, he was of course very handsome. But her feelings for him were that of a sibling rather than a lover, 'For the greater cause she thought'.
Gwen definitely felt like she needed to leave the room now. "No princess's as far as I know...may I enquire why you ask?" she replied her voice as normal as she could make it.
"Oh...I don't know just interested."
Gwen stood by her side at dinner as she weaved the carefully planned lie of her escape; everyone listened with a mixture of shock and relief for her return.
At the end of the meal, she excused herself asking Arthur if he would escort her back to her chambers, Arthur looked a bit surprised, but was grateful to be able to talk to her. Gwen followed.
"Morgana, I want to apologise for failing to protect you." He felt awful for not doing enough to keep her safe, she was like a sister to him and the last few months without her had been hard.
"Please no blame must befall on you, my dear Arthur." The way the words curled around her lips and way she stroked his arm made Gwen a little uncomfortable.
"Good... Well, I am glad to have you back." Arthur's suddenly awkward tone warned Morgana that perhaps she was displaying her affections a little too strongly and too soon.
"As I am glad to be back." They arrived outside her chambers.
"Well, good night Morgana."
"Good night Arthur," she smiled sweetly at him and entered her chambers.
Arthur stepped out of the way of the door to allow Guinevere to enter, as she walked past him, his fingers brushed against hers and she smiled.
"Good night Guinevere," he whispered and closed the door.
Gwen helped Morgana get ready for bed, as she looked into her eyes an uneasy feeling swept over her, there was something deeper that had changed in Morgana and she couldn't put her finger on it and she wasn't sure that she wanted too.
"I think I will go and watch Arthur training tomorrow," her words broke her out of her thoughts.
Morgana didn't want to waste anytime in getting closer to him, being around Uther and Merlin made her on edge and the sooner the plan got into motion the better it would be.
Gwen was surprised, they had not gone to watch the knights training since Morgana was a young girl; they used to watch the Knights hidden in the shadows and only their giggles giving their location away.
"Of course!"
The next morning Arthur seemed surprised, but very happy to see them both. Merlin when he noticed Morgana stayed in the background, he felt terrible guilt for what he had done… .but knew he had no choice at that time.
"Morgana, Guinevere...what may I owe this pleasure?" he spoke to Morgana but his eyes always rested on Guinevere.
"I thought I would see how your training is going Arthur... Or are you still able to be beaten by a girl?" His jaw set at her words.
"I was not beaten by a girl, I was beaten by Magic – it was not a fair fight!"
"Of course, always an excuse," she teased causing Arthur to laugh.
"LETS BEGIN," he raised his voice, and wandered off to his knights, taking a casual glance to Guinevere as he entered training.
They trained hard and Gwen admired Arthur, he really was a very talented man... She felt blessed to receive attention from him. When he would win a fight their eyes would meet briefly and hers would shine with pride causing him to smile.
"He's really come along," Morgana said as they walked back to the castle.
"He has always been a good fighter!"
"Well not bad!" they both laughed. Gwen had missed the banter between Arthur and Morgana.
When they returned to her chambers Gwen noticed how pale Morgana looked.
"You look tired, my Lady."
"I think I didn't sleep well last night, I may need a little rest " she lied, the poison that had nearly claimed her life still kept its hold and although her sister had saved her from the end Merlin had in store for her, the side effects still caused a tiredness to run through her body.
"Of course." Gwen helped her ready for bed and closed the curtains.
"Sleep well," she said, closing the door silently.
Guinevere decided to use the opportunity to catch up with her laundry; but as she folded the linens she felt his presence, she always knew when he was there… her body told her that much.
"Do you always watch the maids fold laundry?" She didn't face him, she carried on trying to concentrate on the task at hand.
He wondered how she always knew when he was near.
"Only the beautiful ones." He placed one of her curls behind her ear and she laughed.
"You really are…" The words escaped her.
"Handsome, brave... Loveable?" he teased now sitting on the table, facing her.
She blushed, "Well I suppose you could say that." He laughed, causing her to join in.
"So, what were you about to say, my dear Guinevere?"she loved how he said her name, how it rolled of his tongue lighting a fire deep inside her. She leant forward and he stopped smiling.
"Well, I wouldn't want to speak out of place…"
"It has never stopped you before! Besides, I would only want honesty from you!" He loved how she stood up to him, he needed that.
"Sorry about that... Be assured my opinion of you is high."
He leaned closer to her lips and she felt like she was being drawn in.
"We shouldn't," she whispered placing her hand on his hard chest; it would not be good to be caught in the laundry room.
He sighed and stood up touching her hand as he walked past "You know we should" he whispered causing her to smile as he walked away.
Morgana woke up a few hours later and looked out of her window. This place used to be her home, but as she looked down into town she felt like she didn't belong here anymore. She watched as Arthur walked with Merlin, laughing all the way. Arthur had changed since she had gone... He was no longer the young arrogant prince she used to know and he seemed really happy.
The next few days went well; Morgana spent most of her days either with Gwen or with Arthur. She had been slowly getting closer to him and it was going well.
Morgana walked back from training with Arthur, Gwen following behind.
"You trained well today." Morgana turned her charm full on; Gwen doubted any man could resist her.
"Of course, my men work hard."
"That may be the case, but you are much better than all of them, of course!"
Arthur looked at her confused; Morgana would never usually say something like that.
He stopped "OK, what is it that you want?"
Morgana laughed, "Can I not pay a compliment without there being a motive?"
Arthur ran his hands through his hair, "Morgana I have grown up with you, there is always a motive!" he thought back to the times she was nice to him, it always ended with something she wanted.
Morgana chuckled, "Well, maybe I have changed... Shall we continue?"
Arthur smiled and shook his head; they continued walking up to the castle.
"May I ask for your company this evening, for a walk?" Morgana asked as they arrived at her chambers.
Arthur looked confused, she definitely wanted something.
"If you want?" he looked at Guinevere but she just looked down.
"Perfect, would eight o'clock be suitable?"
"Eight it is then" Arthur said and he watched Morgana enter her chambers. Gwen entered after; Arthur raised a hand and touched one of her curls absently on the way past, causing her to need to mask a smile.
Merlin waited for the Prince around the corner, having heard it all... He knew Morgana was up to something just not sure what.
"So... Eight o'clock for a late night walk with Morgana – what does she want?" Merlin tried to act light hearted.
"No idea, but knowing her it will be something impossible."
Merlin vowed to stay close to Arthur tonight, maybe hidden in the shadows but near enough to come to his aid if necessary.
Gwen helped Morgana get ready for her evening walk with Arthur, she was not sure why she had a sudden interest in spending time with Arthur and with her appearance when it never bothered her before.
"You might as well have the evening off," Morgana spoke as Gwen finished her hair
"Do you not need me tonight?" She had hoped to go with them on the walk, even just being in Arthur's presence made her happy.
"No need, I can take care of myself... I insist!" The truth is she wanted to go and see Morgause again had already noticed her gone a few times and she did not want to arouse further suspicion – the excuse for going for a walk could not be used again.
Gwen left Morgana's chambers taking her empty dishes with her; she tried to look on the bright side of not going for a walk with them – she could read her book, it had not been opened in months.
"Arthur, are you listening to me?" demanded Morgana impatiently. Arthur had been thinking about Guinevere and her words snapped him out of it.
"No… I mean, of course!" He turned to face her; the truth is he had no idea what she had been saying.
"Really, I swear you never used to be this distant," she nudged him.
"Sorry, just a lot on my mind!"
"Ah... The woes of being Prince Arthur," she teased – at this even Arthur had to laugh. "It is good to be back... So, tell me what has been going on in your life – any gossip to give?"
"No gossip," he lied.
Arthur had always been a bad liar – and Morgana had known him all her life "Oh really... Come on tell me, who is it? Did one of your knights run off with a maid?" she jested. But she didn't know how close to the truth she had come.
Arthur gulped; he would not be able to tell Morgana about his love of Guinevere, as much as she cared for her maid, she would use it against them. It saddened him to think that way about his sister, but it had to remain a secret between the two of them for both their sakes.
"Morgana, your imagination runs away with you! There is no gossip to be told."
"Very disappointing, Arthur," she said, smiling.
Walking home, Guinevere noticed Arthur and Morgana walking along the ramparts, they laughed together and she noticed how Morgana stroked his arm as she spoke, they looked so right together, so at ease. Her heart sunk and she had to shake the thought away... after all she knew Morgana's feelings for Arthur were that of brother.
Merlin watched Gwen walk home from the shadows – he missed his friend. Everything had been harder for him since Morgana's return; although he was glad she was alive, he worried about how much of her had returned!
As Guinevere tried to concentrate on her book, she thought about her relationship with Arthur and about the lines that kept them apart... In fact, everything about their union should be wrong, but why did it feel so right? She loved him so much.
Gwen's thoughts turned to Morgana and Arthur and how they looked when they were together and she felt sick. Ever since a child, she had believed that Morgana would eventually marry Arthur and it was only the attention that he had shown her, that made her think otherwise.
She knew that one day he would meet someone more appropriate for him, someone who could become his Queen, at this thought, her throat tightened and tears escaped down her cheeks. She shook her thoughts away and went to lie on her bed – eventually falling asleep.
:0) TBC?