Full Summary: Merlin vanished from Camelot ten years ago and hasn't been seen since. Arthur has been king of Camelot for just over seven years, since Uther's passing. During those years he has changed many laws to make the kingdom a better place. Even though he changed some things he refused to change one out of respect for his father, the ban on magic. That may have to change soon though, with a spell cast over Camelot, that makes everyone in Camelot forget Arthur and Morgana. Running out of options Arthur must turn to making an alliance with a neighboring kingdom, the only problem being that, said kingdom freely accepts the use and practice of magic and may not so freely help Camelot, a kingdom where innocent people are punished simple for just having magic.

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This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, so please do hesitate to comment your thoughts because feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated. I plan to make this a series of two works because i have a lose plot figured out but i'm going to warn you now that i don't know how often i will update it it could be weeks or months apart, Because i am writing purely for fun when i have time and when i feel inspired.

Now for the story, there will be more notes at the end about changes made to the canon story-line, because this is an AU were things happen very differently.

Prologue

It was a split second decision. Reveal himself and save the man he was destined to protect or hide and let him die. One choice, and his life in Camelot was destroyed. It was simple to chose which to do, but that made it no less hard.

The man hovering in the middle of the dinning hall, encased in a blue light was yelling at the king and the crowned prince, the king had long since called the guards to arrest him and throw him in the dungeons but so far the man had eluded them. Merlin knew he intended to kill both the king and his son, because earlier today there had been and execution, a little girl barely thirteen. She had been found using magic and was captured, trailed, and executed without mercy. Merlin had pleaded with Arthur to talk to his father about the girl, Arthur still held misconceptions about magic and those who used it, but had talked to his father none the less because no matter what it was still a child. His attempts were to no avail, the king wouldn't listen to reason when it came to magic.

So here they were in the dinning hall with the girls father exacting revenge over his child's death. The warlock could hardly blame the man, he couldn't begin imagine the pain that accompanied losing a child. The angered father saw it as murder not justice, just a selfish old man that had a grudge against magic and was to blind to see that his daughter was just an innocent young girl. That made his grief turn into rage which fueled the need to exact revenge. To make the man that killed his child hurt just as much as he did, and as much as his daughter did when she was burnt at the stake.

Though Merlin understood it, he could not stand for what the man was trying to do, he would ruin everything he had been working to accomplish in the years of being the prince's manservant. The sorcerer was enraged and yelling at the king, about to ruin the future Merlin was destined to create with the once and future king.

Merlin had only two options, but would both lead to the same future, one were magic would never be accepted in Camelot. So he chose the option that kept the person he had come to think of as a good friend alive, even if it meant saving the king that cause so much pain to his kin and kind for so long.

So as the man was about to cast a spell, Merlin stepped from the spot behind the table that he had been attending Arthur from. "Merlin! What are are you doing, you idiot." The prince stood about to come to his servants rescue when the spear of ice that was cast towards the king stopped in its tracks and melted to make a puddle on the floor. Merlin's eyes shone a bright gold when he looked back to his prince, who was just staring in shock. The warlock turned back to the threat, he didn't want to see the emotions play across his friends face, emotions he had dreaded to see since he came to know the insufferable prat.

The Sorcerer was also stunned, but not for long, his expression started to change from stunned to confused and then changed to rest on angry. "Why? Why would you protect those who seek to kill our own. They have killed hundreds, thousands of us, and you would protect them!" The sentence started out level but then ended in yell of outrage, his anger growing with each word as the sorcerer sent another icy spear this time aimed at Merlin. The spear melted as the first did, and Merlin hated to do it but he cast a spell in return, an imitation of the man's own only stronger. The spear pierced him through the heart. The raven haired warlock could have teleported the grieving father away, so he could have spared the man's life, but then his sacrifice would mean nothing, he had seen into the fathers heart, his grief was to great. He would never give up his revenge, he would just keep going until he succeeded or was killed. So with the sliver of hope he still held to repair his destiny with Arthur, he made the choice to kill the man. The warlock could not risk the man staying alive, that didn't make the decision any easier though.

He distinctly heard shout coming from behind him but he tuned out the words, as the everything that had just happened finally caught up with him, had he really just done that. Merlin was pulled out of his thoughts but two sets of hands grabbing onto his arms, yanking them behind his back and tightening something cold and hard around his wrists. The hands on him were slowly dragging him out of the room, the last thing he saw was the hurt and betrayed expression on Arthur's face as he was dragged from the room. Merlin couldn't bring himself to regret what he did, he saved Arthur which is what he was destined to do, maybe it wasn't all that he was meant to do but at least he managed to do that much.

A choice is a choice, and now his was made. Now his whole future was altered to take a path that was originally not what was intended. The future is a tricky thing, one choice, one ripple in and infinite pool of possibilities can change so much. The future is a unpredictable thing but oddly enough, it has a way of working itself out, because destiny is one thing that can not and will not be avoided.

Merlin woke confused, not taking in the unfamiliar surroundings at first, but then the sight of the dungeon walls, the dirt straw covered ground he had been sleeping on took over his senses, the shackles around his wrist and ankles finally jogged his memory of the events of the previous day and the very real sentence that he had been convicted of, the one that decreed he be executed for treason against Camelot for the use and practice of sorcery.

Yesterday had started off normal enough, getting breakfast for the prince, helping him with his Armour before morning practice with the Knights, the easy banter between them as he help him redress for the banquet, that the king was throwing for the visiting royalty from a neighboring kingdom. That's where everything had gone wrong, a man acting as a servant revealed himself to be a sorcerer that had come to kill the king and the prince for killing his daughter. He had to used his magic to save Arthur and Uther, very publicly.

After that things happened fast, after everyone had got over the shock of what had happened and what Merlin had done, the king yelled for his arrest. Getting dragged to the dungeons was not really something Merlin had not expected since his arrival at Camelot, he knew his magic would eventually be found out sooner or later, the warlock just wished that it had been later rather that sooner.

He wasn't allowed visitors but Gaius snuck down to see him. Which was impressive considering how old he was, Merlin wondered how he got passed the guards, probably just told them of f and did that thing with his eyebrow, but with the pressing matter of his execution at the forefront of his mind he forgot to ask. No one else was brave enough to come and see him, but he didn't really blame them he had been lying to all of them for years, especially Arthur. God, when he used his magic the look of betrayal and hurt on his face, it would haunt Merlin for the rest of his life, how ever long that may be.

Without much else to do, he tried to sleep more, sleep wasn't a thing he got much of while being Arthur's manservant, between all the chores and sneaking around using his magic and working with Gaius, he was lucky to get a few hours each night. Sleep was a bad choice though, with sleep came dreams and these were not pleasant dreams. His worst fear for a long time was everyone finding out about his magic and turning on him, hating him. That is what would happen in his nightmares over and over, Each of the friends finding some rather horrific way to kill him. So waiting out his sentence with sleep was no longer an option so he just sat in his cell staring at the wall.

Arthur sat at his bedroom window looking down into the courtyard, some knights were building the pyre that Me-the sorcerer would be burnt on later on in the day. A silent battle was waging inside the prince. Merlin betrayed him, probably only got close to him for some hidden agenda, he must of looked into Arthur's thoughts and made himself into the very thing Arthur had wanted back when he first met Merlin, a friend, a real one.

One that wasn't afraid to speak his mind and wasn't just being nice because he was the prince of Camelot. Merlin was a sorcerer, and he had been taught his whole life that magic went hand-in-hand with evil and those that chose to practice it are just as evil. So why was it that he found it so hard to believe that his clumsy idiot of a manservant could be evil.

The blond's opinion on the matter wouldn't matter anyway, Merlin was sentence to death and there was nothing he could do about it, he wasn't even sure he wanted to do something about it.

That battle lasted till the moment he saw Merlin dragged from his cell and tied to the wooden stake. He did nothing to stop it, just stood there near his father, waiting for it to be over. He looked up just as the order to light the wood was issued and met the person he used to call his friends eyes. Arthur had expected hatred, anger, frustration or even hopelessness, but when he looked into the dark blue depths all he found was sadness and maybe a little understanding.

A small sad smile worked it's way onto Merlin's face, it almost looked apologetic. He seemed to be waiting for something, though what Arthur couldn't figure out. The flames had reached his feet now it was slowly licking its way up his legs, but he never broke eye contact with his prince, never once looked towards the cheering crowd, happy about his death. Until the flames made their way up to his chest, his eyes started to mimic the flames, the dark blue irises were slowly engulfed in a rusty orange that solidified into a pure gold color, with one last look at Arthur he whispered something, then disappeared.

As the crowd erupted into confusion and outrage, Uther ordered around the guards to find the traitor. Arthur would have helped but he was frozen, the look Merlin had given him in that last moment before his vanished, it stopped the war inside himself. In that moment he believed he would have tried to stop the execution if Merlin had not disappeared. Along with the expression on his face, Arthur would remember the words Merlin whispered for a very long time.

One day Arthur you will make a great king, as I have always told you. I never intended to hurt you, all I ever did was protect you. Goodbye my friend.

A/N:The next chapter will skip ten years into the future. As for a pairing i don't know if i want to make this a Merlin/Arthur story yet so i won't add it to the tags yet but it is a possibility depending on how i feel as i write it.

Important notes about the story:
- Uther died naturally three year's after he sentenced Merlin to death.
- Morgana is still good, she gets nightmares but her magic is just starting to awaken.
- The Knights of the round table were friends with Merlin and Arthur before they were made knights when Arthur became king.
- Morgana and Arthur know that they are siblings because Uthur told them when he was on his deathbed, at first it was awkward but they got past it and now they are closer then the were before.

I mention this being a different universe but really it's more like a parallel world where things happen differently. Very differently.