Alaia Skyhawk: Here's my friend, Julie Winchester's, fic. She posted the notebook she'd written it in, to me quite some months ago, but due to working on Brotherhood at the time I've had to wait until now to get started on it. I hope you all enjoy it :)

Note, it comes as an alternate end for 2:09, The Sins of the Father.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, and this story belongs to my friend Julie, who I'm posting it on behalf of.

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Chapter 1: Prologue

Merlin sighed... How had they come to this? Was that really what his destiny implied? Yes, Arthur had brought magic back to the land, and years after his coronation Albion was finally united... But at what cost?

The official version of events showed Arthur as a hero, when coming into the throne room to talk to his father, the prince had found him dying, stabbed by a sympathiser of magic. The man, seeing himself caught, had turned his weapon against the prince, who then managed to kill him first and avenge his father... But that version was a lie, and very few people knew the truth.

Arthur had killed his father, and Merlin had only arrived in time to see him run him through screaming that his mother had died because of him. The two Knights who had been there had sworn allegiance to the new King, and now were unable to say anything for fear of the safety of their families. Merlin had told Gaius, but who else would have believed the words of a servant?

Trying to prevent Arthur from continuing his father's fight against magic, Merlin had revealed his powers to the new King, and that was when it all started to go wrong.

Arthur had immediately seen the advantages of having a sorcerer faithful to him. Once Merlin had been careless enough to tell him that an oath in the Old Tongue could not be broken, the King had given an ultimatum to the magical community... 'Swear never to turn against me, and you will be free. Refuse and you will be hunted down.'

And they had believed him, because according to the Druids he was the Once and Future King destined to bring magic back to the land. Some had been distrusting, though, and had gone into hiding. The only sorcerer not asked to make the vow was Merlin, for Arthur wasn't a fool. Merlin, Emrys, was supposed to be the most powerful warlock of all time, and no doubt he could break such an oath if he decided to. Not to mention that Merlin had been his servant for two years, and had he wanted to turn against him he could have killed him long ago.

It had been a few weeks after his coronation that the king announced his marriage to the Lady Morgana. When Merlin had asked him about Gwen, the reply had been 'Since when does royalty get to marry for love? Morgana's the best choice, she's of noble blood, which will please the court. With a Seer Queen and a Court Sorcerer, the magical community will be inclined to trust me. Guinevere understands.'

And at first it all went well, so much like a fairytale come true, but it had only lasted a year. That was when Merlin had started to see signs than things weren't going the way they should... Arthur hadn't forgiven himself for the death of Uther, and tried to ease that guilt by blaming magic. New laws were proclaimed; sorcerers required to come to Camelot to register themselves. They had to declare where they lived and if they had families. Marriages had to be reported too, as well as births, and the law required all children with signs of magic to be registered as well.

And then Arthur had demanded that every adult sorcerer had to work for him, those that refused being declared traitors to Albion. Merlin had only been able to watch helplessly as his best friend, deaf to all advice, slowly enslaved the magical community. Morgana was only Queen in name, powerless as any other sorcerer to oppose her husband, and so the nightmare continued its downward spiral.

Two years after Arthur's coronation... Merlin abandoned him, unable to take any more.

He left without warning, stopping only at Gwen's house to ask her to hide his old magic book. It had sentimental value, and he didn't want the next Court Sorcerer to have it. He'd then left, only out of the city for about two hours when the Great Dragon, who always seemed to know what Merlin was doing, landed before him.

"And where do you think you are going, young warlock?"

Merlin kept walking.

"I don't know... Away from Arthur, away from Camelot."

The dragon's tone was warning.

"I told you once, one cannot run so easily from his destiny."

Merlin stopped and turned, glaring at him angrily, his voice rising in fury.

"My destiny? Let's talk about my destiny! I remember perfectly what you told me the first time we met. 'Your destiny is to help Arthur unite the land of Albion and return magic to the land'." He flung his arms wide. "Well here we are! Arthur is King, magic is allowed again, and as for Albion he doesn't need me anymore to finish uniting it. It's only a matter of time now. You got what you wanted, he even released you, Kilgharrah."

Kilgharrah frowned, unhappy.

"This is not what I wanted, and you know that."

Merlin scoffed at that, turning away, his spirit wounded and his faith in Arthur broken.

"Really? Well too bad for you, because I'm going. Now just leave me in peace."

Kilgharrah watched as Merlin resumed walking away, before grimly he took flight and went in the opposite direction. Paths as divergent as the road destiny should have taken, and the tragic path that had come to be.

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Alaia Skyhawk: Julie, I've trimmed the prologue, and will put the end of it on the start of chapter 2 (for the readers, I'm beta'ing this fic as I type it up, since English isn't Julie's first language) Putting that part onto there flows better, and keeps the bleak feeling of the prologue separate from the more upbeat stuff that comes next :)