Title: Gilded
Rating: T
Timeframe/Info About This Fic: Definite AU; Takes place in a nameless city, and we'll have to see how realistic it is xD
Disclaimer: If I owned Merlin, we'd all be in trouble.
Authors Note: What the heck, Mac!? Why can't you just finish one story at a time instead of starting another multichap fic.
But I've been wanting to this FOREVER. I really hope you guys like it. Basically, Uther is a mob/crime boss, Arthur is his naive son, and we'll definitely see a pale, sticky-outy-earred warlock soon :D I know some people have already tried this AUish idea, but my fic won't be romantic. Just action!

The night was silent; the air was still. Not a soul dared to breathe, for if they did draw in a breath, it would shatter the fragile illusion. The illusion of a calm and empty night.

All of a sudden, flares burst into life, beating away the black night with their bright flames. Then the light beams hit the eyes of the concealed army. Brilliant golden irises bounced back at the torchbearers, giving away their secret weapon. Shouts erupted from the surprised party, and a few of their precious lights were extinguished in their panicked struggle to defend themselves. Instead of drawing blows, the golden eyed people shied away from the light. Though the torchbearers didn't know this, they clearly out numbed them with three to one odds.

Uther had a decision to make. He knew his people had to fight against these golden eyed enemies, but he wasn't feeling confident. Someone next to him, most likely someone who had freshly joined their gang, held up a gun in his shaking hands. Uther smacked it down immediately.

"No guns," he hissed, trying not to give the enemy any ideas.

"But Ki-ing?" The kid whined. He was obviously a new recruit.

"If gunshots are heard, you know what'll happen. You know who'll come."

The younger hesitated and slowly lowered his gun. Uther's little reminder only caused his hands to shake more. "W-what're we gunna do then, King?"

Uther was silent for a moment, considering his options and the consequences. The torch he was holding casted strange ripples of light and dark across his face, making him look almost like one of the things they were hunting. Finally, he decided on his next order.

"Drive 'em off. If one falls back," he locked gazes with the younger man standing beside him, "you know what to do."

The kid quickly lowered his eyes. "Yeah, I know," he murmured. He tucked his gun away and picked up a metal pipe resting by his feet. Raising it, he let out a loud shout and took a jerking step towards the golden eyed people. Uther's other men, seeing the kid's action and the King's agreeing nod, each found their own silent weapon and charged the concealed crowd. Terrified screams erupted from the shadows as the hunted fled for their lives. Uther could see the large, dark forms as they surged away from the torchbearers, some tripping and falling in the mad dash to escape.

Then the hair on the back of Uther's neck started to prickle. He knew the tables were about to turn.

A few of the golden eyed people didn't run. Instead they stood firm beside one another. In the dimming light of the flares, their irises began to glow at such a fierce brightness that Uther thought their eyes would simply burn up in their sockets. Suddenly, heavy things began to fall from the sky with no warning. Uther cursed his stupidity. They had cornered the enemy at an abandoned construction site. Huge pieces of metal shards and rusted machines lazily twisted on corroded ropes above them. It was too dark to see where exactly they were swinging, and the torches were too faint by then to illuminate the rest of the construction field to see the damage done. They literally were waiting for the sky to drop on them with no warning.

The only warning that Uther got before he would have been crushed by a lofty concrete mixer was the light dusting of smashed powder on his upturned face. He dove immediately to the side, seconds before the heavy object smashed into the pavement, throwing concrete, metal, and asphalt into the air. The shards cut him, and one of the wheels caught his shoulder badly, but he was just relieved to be alive. Holding his injured shoulder, he spun around to glare at the remaining enemies.

After the concrete mixer failed to crush the King, many of them had fled. Uther lunged at one set of glowing eyes with a savage growl, and they darted back quickly, disappearing before he had time to prepare another strike. He glanced around and wasn't surprised to see the members of his gang as the only ones left in the abandoned construction field. He also wasn't surprised to see any captured enemies among his men. Those cowards are good at running away.

However, he was surprised to hear the scream of a woman. Striding quickly to the sound, he found several of his men, the young kid included, circled around a frightened woman about his age. She covered her face with shaking hands as Uther approached.

"Look atchu, coward," the young man sneered, kicking at her halfheartedly. Somehow he was able to feel more of a man when he was tormenting the poor woman. The others jeered at the captive, one even catching her across the shoulder with his metal pipe. The woman didn't scream, but Uther could hear her hitched breathing, and knew she wasn't far from tears.

"What have we got here?" He tried to force his voice back to an even note. He knew the golden eyed people allowed women into their main ranks, but he never had seen one on the front line before.

"She's one of 'em" the younger sniggered, apparently believing himself to be "tight" with the King because he had spoken with him once. "But they din't come back for her. Too 'fraid to," he laughed harshly, and the others soon joined in.

Uther stepped closer to the woman, trying to force his natural protective instinct away. She was the enemy. He raised his flare, trying to see her face. "Lower your hands," he demanded.

Slowly the woman obeyed, dropping her trembling hands. Her face was dirty with tear streaks that crisscrossed under her eyes. Uther raised the flame a little bit higher, checking the color of her eyes. Instead of the brilliant gold to be reflected back to him, he met a watery gray. Anger surged within the King. She's not even a GoldEye.

"What's wrong with you?" He snarled, grabbing the collar of the kid. "She's not a GoldEye!" He shouted into the younger's face.

The kid swallowed, looking perfectly petrified, but somehow he was able to choke out an excuse. "She was wearing this," he stuttered, holding something up in the air. A golden chain and pendant twisted lazily in the air, throwing golden flashes on the thin faces of the men around him. On the chain was a beautiful, gilded ring. The edges were slightly bent so the ring had a more elliptical shape. The silhouette of a golden eye. He glanced back at the woman. The suddenly fierce look in her grayish blue eyes was betrayed by her trembling lip. She may not have had the telltale trademark eyes of the GoldEyes, but she was a part of them.

Uther released his grip on the collar of the kid after giving him one last shake. He grabbed the incriminating necklace and tucked into one of his pockets. He nodded at them and turned away from the woman.

"Please!" The captured woman spoke for the first time. "Let me go! I have a son." Uther paused, but he refused to turn back around. "I'm the only one left to take care of him," she begged, her voice choking with tears. "Please!" Uther bit his lip, and he nearly turned back around to pardon the woman. However, if he showed mercy to the woman, his gang would rebel against him. He couldn't risk it, not when he had just recently clawed his way to the top. "Please," she was bordering on tears now. "Let me go back to my Emrys."

Uther swallowed thickly. She just had to name the child. Taking a shuddering breath, though hiding it from his curious men, he opened his mouth.

"Please…"

"You know what to do." Uther walked away without another word.

Uther was attacked the moment he stepped foot in his home.

"Daddy!" The delighted scream of a four year old assaulted his ears as a light weight smashed into his knees. Uther felt the grim weight of the night's events slip away as he bent down to pick up his son.

"Arthur," a smile replaced the gaunt frown on the King's face. "Have you been nice to Morgana?" He raised an eyebrow at his son, who squirmed slightly in his arms. A light scuffling sounded above him, and Uther looked up to see his adoptive daughter peering down at him from in between two slats in the grand staircase with her wide eyes.

"Morgana," Uther's smile grew as he looked at the young girl. She's almost six now, he thought after a moment of incredulous shock. That'd mean he had had her under his care for almost a year.

"Are they gone?" Morgana's light whisper barely carried from her spot on the balcony. "The GoldEyes?"

Arthur twisted sharply in Uther's arms, half enjoying himself greatly, half pretending that it was beneath his dignity to be held. "Gone! No more GoldEyes!"

Uther drew his son closer to him, despite Arthur's now real protesting squirms. He briefly remembered the woman, begging to be spared so she could care for her son. Uther quickly banished that memory from his mind. No doubt she was lying to try to save herself. They're all cowards.

After Arthur poked him rather roughly in the face, Uther realized that he had yet to answer their question. He looked from the timid Morgana to the chubby Arthur.

"They're gone."

Uther never could have imagined that he was right when he had said that the GoldEyes were history. That night had taken a much larger toll on the smaller group than Uther had realized. Since that fateful confrontation, the GoldEyes remained as elusive as something could be, and many even questioned if they even existed anymore. Uther knew they did; they just kept themselves hidden and assimilated themselves with the very same people who had tried to drive them out of existence. But Uther knew they would be smart enough to stay alive. Smart enough to eventually rise up again.

That night had other consequences as well. The group that Uther was afraid of attracting with gunshots in the dark never reared its ugly head again. The Dragons, with badges of black and emerald, were once a formidable enemy of the King's gang, but with the dissolution of the GoldEyes, they too fell apart. However, this time, Uther knew the Dragons were permanently out of the count. Two weeks after the GoldEyes' last stand, one of Uther's lieutenants found the bodies of dozens of Dragons all gathered around a huge, rusted pot. When the officials came to yellow tape the scene off, they announced, much to the surprise of everyone, that the death of the Dragon gang was self-inflicted—they had overdosed themselves. No foul play was suspected. In the short span of two weeks, the King had all of his rivals destroyed with no casualties to him.

For thirteen years, Uther and his fellow Knights enjoyed being the only organized group in the entire Five Kingdoms Block, named after the once five powerful gangs who clashed for dominance there—the Knights, the GoldEyes, the Dragons, the Lords, and the Rooks. Once the Dragons and the GoldEyes fell to the Knights, the other two gangs were quick to submit their loyalty to "King Pen" Uther, sniveling their way to survival.

Buying into a dying gambling chain called "Camelot," Uther tried to adopt the illusion of "going straight" only to keep his children in the dark about his dark dealings. However, he was just as corrupted as he dealt and haggled with other mob bosses throughout the area for more power. His cover worked for a time though, especially fooling his son Arthur into thinking his father was an honest man.

For thirteen years, the Knights grew soft with their success and riches.

The GoldEyes prepared to strike.

Thank you for reading my prologue to Gilded (are ya seein' a trend in the titles yet...?)
Please let me know how you guys feel about this. I really want to write more...but only if you want me too ;D