This is an AU inspired by my love for Merlin and there are two specific sentences that belong to Merlin and its creators. "If I marry her, what would you do?" and "I'll watch you grow into the king that Camelot deserves, as it should be."

I wrote a few fics for Merlin and loved Arwen before they wrecked the series finale for me. Bloody hell, they would not even let them kiss throughout season 5. Anywho, I wanted to do something different for Dacey.

The impossible

In the animal kingdom, a camel and a stallion may sniff one another, scratch one another's butt with their teeth, rob heads together, lick each other's mouth and pull each other's tail; They may prance around in a stable full of hay and what not; that's what humans call flirting. A camel would be the stallion's companion; lifelong friends? Maybe, but they could never be more than that; they have never been known to mate and make a litter of offspring.

Stallions have beautiful shiny manes, they are adorned with pure gold, silver and leather saddles. At most, the only ornament one would see on a camel is a bronze nose ring that brands them, declaring whom they belonged to.

Stallions are animals of great beauty, they dignify the king and his sovereignty, and camels are only kept as a necessity, because of their ability to endure the bitter heat of desert and their ability clean up after horses. Royalties are like stallions, maids are like camels, being together would tip over the balance of an empire.

Yes, Lacey Alexandria Porter felt like she was like she had a lot in common with the camel; they both have crooked feet and lumpy backs from a hard day's work, prince Danny Desai was definitely the golden brown eyed stallion.

She always knew this day would come, but nothing prepared her for it; the day she would lose him completely. She always had to share him with his sword, with his father, with Josephine Marie Masterson, with the whole of Camelot. But today is that day when she won't have him at all, not anymore.

She wished she had more time to love…more time to feel…hold on to him. Thinking that they could be… was all a wishful thinking on her side. The arrival of princess Regina Crane of Myra has definitely brought her back to her senses. To make things worse, the castle's head maid had passed her off as an aide to the new classless, imperious, unscrupulous, clumsy, dirty, insect eating toad that Danny was about to marry.

Lacey knew she couldn't stay in Camelot; if she did, she would be the reason, the reason why his heart would sway; the reason why his body would stray; the reason why he would be betray his wife to be, and the reason why he would be unfaithful to Camelot. She didn't know where she would go, honestly, she didn't care as long as it was far, far away from his ever lovingly longing eyes

When he came to her home the previous night, it was as if he was asking for her permission to be with another woman. "If I marry her, what would you do?" he asked.

She didn't give him her blessing, she didn't deny him of it either. She bravely told him, "I'll watch you grow into the king that Camelot deserves, as it should be."

She was telling him to do the right thing for everyone, everyone meaning Camelot; but in all honesty, the not so lady-like part of her was saying, 'I'm going to kick and scream and then rip your ugly wife to be a new face.' But no, the somewhat loose Lady Regina Crane of Myra will always be a woman of timeless beauty.

Lacey wouldn't ask him to choose her, and Danny wouldn't persuade her to stay and wait for him, they knew this day would be the end of them; but it was all for the love of Camelot.

The Seer

Josephine Marie Masterson whispered something in Danny's imperial ears, when he heard the news, his heart sunk; it felt like the world had caved in from underneath him.

He excused himself from the festivity and walked to the castle roof, he asked himself if he could live without her, the ultimate answer was no. "ALEXANDRIA." He screamed from the tower, his voice rang and vibrated down the walls of the castle; she heard him call, so did everyone else but she didn't look back. Her mind was already made up; she could not risk having him just to lose him again.

From the rooftop of the palace, he watched her about to exit the gates of Camelot; he felt her light depart from his life.

Like a fallen city of Zion, Danny's heart crumbled; he saw it coming, he anticipated it, it was very near; his grandeur was slowly evaporating. Danny Desai knew once those gates bided her farewell he would die a very lonely king, perhaps he would not live to be one.

A dark cloud began to gather in the sky, the sound of a storm began to brew from nowhere; for the first time since she became a serving girl, and Josephine Marie Masterson never thought she would see the day when anyone would make Danny cry. But she wasn't just anyone, she was Lacey, Danny's Alexandria. She simply put her hand on the prince's shoulder, she had no idea how else to comfort him.

As the gates of the kingdom began to close, Josephine felt the earth shift and she felt heavens open.

Maybe it was magic, maybe it was love, maybe it was destiny or just sheer coincidence; but she knew if those two couldn't be together, they would never survive without one another. The moment those gates closed behind Lacey, she fell off her horse and Danny sank on his knees, together, they took their final breaths, leaving the world, reunited as soul mates.

King Vikram was too busy being an idle king, wining and dining the dignitaries that came to mark the nuptials with the promiscuous princess. Little did he know that his tears were about to begin. Nothing could ever prepare him for the pain and fall that Camelot was about to witness. The inevitable fall of Camelot had just begun. In Josephine's vision, she saw the walls of Camelot being taken over and torn down by foes.

Jo gasped for air as she awoke from her damning slumber; she was drenched in sweat and overcome by fear of the future ahead and the things she had seen. She ran out of her room into the cold, she had to stop it from happening.

The Conversation

Jo ran as fast as her scrawny legs would go. Kicking the door to the prince's chambers open, she saw that Danny was awake. "My Lord," She panted. "You cannot marry Lady Regina of Myra."

The prince threw his hands in the air as a sign of despair. "Father's mind is already made up, I hardly have a choice."

"It doesn't matter, you cannot marry her."

Danny hurled at Josephine and gave her a look, the look that accused Josephine of cooking up a conspiracy theory like she always does. The problem is for some reason, Jo is always right.

"She's not a troll is she?" he faked a smile, and tried to lighten the mood with the memory of the time had his father cheated on his mother with one.

"It's not funny Danny. You should marry for love and not out of duty. Who is the king to tell you who to be with, when to produce offspring and how to do it? You are the one who goes to the war front, you are the one who protects us, you are the one who will reunite the whole of Albion; but you will never be able to do it without Lacey."

Danny looked baffled, the way Jo speaks all the time with so much wisdom and passion never ceases to amaze him. "Where is all this coming from?"

"I just have a feeling….if you were to rise, you have to rise with Lacey; if you choose to fall, then you fall with Camelot. It's time to be your own man Danny, it's time to take a stand, even if it means defying the king."

It's always great to have magic but magic can't fix every little thing, like Danny's blind loyalty to his father. The fact that Lacey wasn't going to stop him wasn't helping neither. Jo left the castle, praying to god, if one existed…hoping that Danny would adhere her warnings. All she needed to do was to wait; only the breaking dawn would tell if the prince made the right choice.

The Wedding

The great prince Danny, fearless in battle, gutless in love. Humph… 'what kind of man are you?' Danny questioned himself.

He raised his head up and scanned through the crowd, wondering if Lacey came to support him as she had promised. She was there, she was watching, watching him hold another's hand, watching him look into another's eyes, watching him about to declare a loveless obligation of an eternity to another.

In that moment, in Lacey's mind, Danny was just a boy, a child who longed to gratify his father. He was just a lad, an adolescent who barely had a voice of his own; but he wasn't just a any boy…he was the boy she wanted to protect, and if giving up her happiness would help him gain his father's approval, then so be it. Even though her heart was bleeding, she did not shed a tear…it just stopped, in that moment her heart stopped feeling anything at all.

When the priest asked if Danny was marrying the princess out of his free will, he said yes, Lacey's heart dropped. It was all about to be over.

Jo felt sick to her stomach, she was constipated. No, not from the food she ate but from the cowardice of the prince. Josephine felt mad, mad to the depth of her soul; no, not from her magic but for the fact that Danny made a fool of Lacey's heart. Jo felt sorry, sorry from the bottom of her heart. No, not from her past transgressions but for what she was about to do.

Before the high priest could even ask if anyone had an objection, Jo found her way to the front of the altar. "I object to this laughable union." There was an uproar..commotion chaos in the ceremonial hall….oh Josephine Marie Masterson what have you done?

Lacy halted for a second then ran towards Jo; she grabbed her friend's hand and bowed to King Vikram, "Forgive her Sire, she drank too much ale and mead at my home last night, she hasn't slept it off."

"Very well then take her away or I'll have the guards lock her in the dungeon.

She began to pull Jo toward the door. Jo smiled at Lacy and shook her head; she put her hand around her neck and kissed her cheek. Jo broke off her grip then went back to the altar and yelled, "He can't marry this slob because he's in love with someone else." She pointed backwards to Lacey, every eye followed the direction of her hand but they saw no one, Lacey had already slipped into the crowd. Jo turned to Danny, "Are you going to tell them or would you have me do the honors?"

Danny opened his mouth but before he had a chance to speak, Teresa got to Jo and appeased her child with her eyes. "Darling, come, you need some medicine for your drunken stupor. Come with me child, a bowl of soup and bread will soothe you." They all knew Jo was as sober as the day she was born.

Jo was more than a serving girl, she was Lacey and Danny's friend, and she had always put her life second to Danny's because she knew there was a rectitude about him that made him worth saving….not anymore….never again, she told himself. She would always want more than friendship with Lacey but with Danny in the picture, Lacey would always be blind to Jo's feelings, not that Jo could ever express them freely without being stoned to death in the village square. But because Danny made Lacey happy and vice-versa, she wanted them to stay together.

Jo gave Danny the filthiest look and spoke to him, low enough for the prince's ears only. "Henceforth, I cease to be your keeper. If you ever look at Lacey or come near her, I will kill you. It's a promise not a warning. Alert the guards if you dare but believe me when I say I can take down every single one of them before you can say 'Camelot.' I will protect her from now on, obviously you can't do it right." The prince was too shocked to utter a word; he had never seen Jo this angry before.

Jo said her piece and was about to leave when King Vikram blocked her path. "Who do you think you are, speaking up when you were not spoken too?"

Jo stood on her toes and whispered in King Vikram's ears, "You are not only an idle king, you are also a charlatan. And if you fail to remove yourself from my path, I'm 'the one' who will tell everyone who cares to listen that Sarita Roman is your illegitimate daughter and you used magic to cure her on her deathbed. I wonder how the people will feel about the Throne once they also learn that your heir was secretly born out of the same magic, which you publicly condemn. I may only be a maid but those words - would you like me to put them to test, my lord? Would you like to find out what they can do to your kingdom?"

Those words put the fear of God in the king's heart, he cleared his throat loudly, quickly moved out of the maid's way and signaled the guards to let her be. Jo took Lacey's hand and walked out hand in hand with Lacey.

The Heart of Camelot

Lacey's eyes were swollen from sobbing; she had locked herself inside all day. Her most prized possessions were neatly packed in a corner; she would be leaving Camelot with Jo at daybreak. She was awake, thinking about how to deal with the loss she was experiencing; a knock came from the door. She opened it to discover a serious looking Prince at her door. He was dressed in a simple white tunic and brown pants, with his sword slightly protruding from under his shirt.

"Lacey."

"No."

"Lacey."

"Sire, No." She tried to close the door, but he quickly stuck his body between the door and it's frame, "You should not be here, don't come any closer please." She made a shooing motion with her hands.

"Yessss" he counteracted the intended effect of her resistance.

"No." she insisted.

"Alex-and-r-i-a ." He chanted her name like the melody of angels.

Fuck the gods...he was about to shatter her resolve when he said her name like that...but "Noooo."

He hated being told no, not many people have told him no and lived to tell the tale. "What do you mean no?"

"This is your wedding night and you should not be seen coming out of my hut."

"I thought you wanted me to do the right thing?"

"Yes…the right thing for the people, for Camelot. But I pray of you, do not ask me to stay and watch you touching her, embracing her, kissing her. Do not ask me to stay while you lay with her and put your seed in her. Don't ask me to stick around and be a wet nurse while you and her have spoilt little princes and princesses prancing around the throne room. I would rather the gods curse and strike me dead than to watch you coronate her and call her your queen.

He grabbed hand and interlocked it with hers, "My love lis-"

She yanked her arm from his hand; she struck him on his right cheek then repeatedly hit him in the chest then jerked him toward her. He wasn't sure what to do so he just stood there, taking every hit like a man.

"I know what I did hurt you and I want to mak-"

She was so heated she could not help but blurt out with authority "You will hold your tongue, I've not finished speaking—my Lord."

"You are rightfully angry at m-"

She cut him off "You are a coward, a gutless coward who would not be seen with me by day but come to visit in the thick of night. Go home to your wife Danny, I'm aware that the royal bed must be christened by midnight and only an unrighteous man would leave his side of the bed cold at night. I may be from the lower town but you have come to the wrong place to seek a concubine, I will always love you but I will not reduce myself to that. I will not be your other woman on the outskirt of town."

He grabbed both of her hands a little forcefully than he had previously, "I did not get married."

She was happy for a split second but then the reality and possible consequences dawned on her. "Danny, go back and make this right."

He snapped. "It's been decided." Then he showed remorse for raising his voice, "Sorry."

"The king?"

"He's still sulking. He's angry with me, but I don't care because I love you, you are the only one for me. I'm my own man now. He doesn't get a vote in this, not anymore."

"He might disown you, he will not let us leave here alive."

"I can't live without you so if I have to die for you or die with you then so be it. If we can't be together in life, then we'll bleed together and die together."

Her eyes widened, her mouth twitched uncontrollable and fiery tears escaped her eyelids, she shook her head vehemently. "I want to be with you but I can't let you give everything up for me. If you ever loved me at all, now will be the time for you to leave. I want you to live a full life and have the family and happiness that you have always wanted, you deserve it."

"You are my happiness and the family I've always wanted. This kingdom, the gold, the precious stones and the throne does not compare to you. We belong together, I was a fool not to follow my heart sooner. He moved closer and closer until he backed her into a corner; he leaned in and kissed her forehead, "This is for Camelot," he kissed her temple, "This is the right thing to do." He grabbed her and placed a defying kiss on her lips, "This is for the ageless love I will always have for you."

A boyish smile spread on his face, he whispered. "Stay with me, be with me, love me, be the mother of my future children. Queen Lacey Alexandria Desia, the sound of your name is like samba to my ears, I could dance to it all day long. He removed the golden earring on his right ear and held it in front of her, "You were born to be my queen and I could never acknowledge another as such, so just say yes. Please?"

His mouth trembled; as their lips met, she tasted the saltiness of his emotions when he brushed his lips against hers again, this time it was more charged, fiery, agonizing and demanding. His eyes raced into her eyes, "You are the only one worth giving up my life or throne for, I would die if anything happens or if you reject me. Please say yes…Lacey."

She shivered and tried to swallow her excitement. "Yes Danny." He attached the earring to the vacant pierced hole on her left earlobe; this will have to do till morning, then he would find a ring befitting his queen; but first, he must talk to Jo and ask her to help pick 'the' ring.

As he was about to leave, he saw her door fall down at his feet; he heard the king's raging voice. "Get in there and seize her."

Danny drew out his sword and pulled his woman behind him, "You will have to go through me."

"This woman has enticed you with her bosom and that's okay. It's only natural for people like us to seek pleasure by burying our loins between the thighs of 'Stable Girls'. You are the future king Danny and you can have her by the side if it pleases you, but I will not let you give up your birthright for a commoner who has no name, wealth or power to offer."

"Oh but she will have a name soon, 'Desai' she won't be a commoner once she becomes queen."

"You are 21, you are no longer a boy, you are man and men understand that sacrifices have to be made. Forget love son, power is everything."

"So why so I feel most powerful when I'm with her? I'm not giving her up."

"You would risk committing a taboo by having half-bred bastards with impure blood running through your children than uphold the pride of Camelot? Our enemies will mock us."

"Our enemies will fear us, they have seen what I can do. Father, I choose love over pride. I choose her and everyone has no choice but to accept that she is my future queen."

"Marriage is a contract between two families to keep their kingdoms strong, protected and united, we need that Crane slut for that. We marry for what we can get, no one marries for love my boy."

"Then I'll be the first. I would go to war for her and I would slay a thousand men if need be, perhaps die while doing it but I WILL NOT GIVE HER UP. She is my heart and that makes her the heart of Camelot"

To the Death

Vikram watched as knights were falling down on both his right and left hand side; after a short massacre, it didn't take too long for Danny to reach his father. "You can keep your throne if you want, but I'll keep my love." He held his blade up, his father pulled out his own sword in response.

"To the death? Danny, for a maid?"

His son answered, "To the death Vikram, for my heart."

Thanks you for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's a once shot, life or death, draw your conclusion. I want to believe that love won. I will try and update the other Dacey asap.