Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.
Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. It's really offensive if you're a fan of Merlin. Also, there are multiple references to canon typical violence & consent violations (canon being Arthurian lore, though the allusions are similar to HPverse). Feel free to back out if that's you.
Author's Note: So, I was writing this for a different competition, but well, that didn't pan out. But have a fic about Morgana Lefay deciding to search out Arthur while they were still young. I may comfort myself with a lovely ficlet with one of my favorite ships in a bit.
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 10); MC4A
Individual Challenges: Yellow Ribbon (N); Yellow Ribbon Redux (N); Sett to Destroy (N); New Fandom Smell (Y); Short Jog (N)
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 10 – Assignment 6
Subject (Task No.): Divination (Task No. 2: Write about someone learning something.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 Words [322 – Servant]; Insane Prompt Challenge [119 – Long Lost Family Member]
Space Address (Prompt): 3D (Breeze/Zephyr)
Representations: Morgana Lefay
Bonus Challenge: Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Persistence Still; White Dress; Demo (Mouth of Babes; Infinity; Sitting Hummingbird; Sailor Delight; Easy Zephyr)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: n/a
Word Count: 1134 words
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The Raven Thief
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Morgana stood outside a church courtyard in the Westminster district of Londonium. Within the courtyard on the other side of the iron fence was the monument that Merlin had created upon the requests of the nobles who wished to take Uther's throne. She could feel the magic he had wrought into it. She could taste it, and it was just as disgusting as she had always imagined his magic being.
Her mother had made certain that Morgana had known why they had hidden away after Uther's death. She had hidden nothing of her crimes from her only surviving daughter; she had also not sheltered Morgana from the cruelty that had led to those crimes. Then Ygraine had made certain that Morgana would be able to protect herself as much as possible, both physically and with the magic they both shared, even if she did not believe that Morgana had any chance of surviving an encounter with the warlock who had destroyed her life.
Ygraine didn't know about how Magic had sent her own agents to prepare Morgana for the task of confronting Merlin. Fruit grown in a sidhe changed mortals in potentially dangerous ways. By this point, Morgana was mostly more fae than human—iron certainly burned enough for that to be true—but in her mind, this was a fair trade for the magical strength to face the man who had arranged the captivity of her mother and then had stolen her brother only to abandon him.
Morgana had heard of how Sir Ector had treated Arthur from the brownies watching over him.
She had heard of how Merlin had deigned himself to check on his stolen ward and offer sporadic lessons that taught nothing. All the while, Merlin hinted that Arthur had a great destiny that he had to fulfill but refused to answer any questions concerning it. Morgana knew from the whispering voice of Magic that Merlin's plans hinged upon this monument with its imbued sword.
An icy breeze danced across the courtyard, shifting the snow and tugging at her hair. Morgana breathed in the cold, letting it cool the fire in her gut. She could not destroy the monument, no matter how tempting it was to cleanse the area of the warlock's tainted magic. She could not give into the temptation to go to the tournament field nearby, where Arthur had been to act as the servant of Kay and Ector. Her lip sneered at the thought that they had raised the boy's hopes that he would be accepted as a page if only he did his tasks well enough but already had a plan on how to subvert Arthur's efforts.
If she had any hope of convincing the boy of coming with her, she had to be calm. Magic had promised to arrange the opportunity to speak to her brother without being observed. Morgana had to trust that Magic will keep her promise. Considering that it had been a gift for her seventeenth birthday, Morgana knew that Magic would be extra sure to keep it, even as fickle as the sentient force tended to be.
Morgana heard the sound of running footfalls just as the sun dipped below the church and darkness began to wrap itself about the city. She turned just in time to see a tow-haired boy skid to a halt just out of arms' reach of her. He was smaller for an eleven-year-old and gangly in that way which suggested a lot of growth in a short period of time. He also had the sweet tang of magic about him, and to Morgana, the flavor was distinctively similar to her—no, their mother. Even more telling, the boy carried Ygraine in the features of his face, as much a declaration of maternity as the magic.
"Oh," they breathed in unison.
Recognition hummed between like a bard's song. All of the elegant words that Morgana had practiced in her head for this moment fled. They were all inadequate for the depth of the moment happening. Magic whipped around them, rustling their clothes and yanking at their hair, excited for their reunion. Unable to hold herself back, Morgana reached for the boy, her stolen brother.
Despite everything she knew he had gone through, Arthur reached for her in return.
They clutched each other tight. Perhaps he was as overwhelmed by the sudden fear of losing her just as she was feeling for him. Perhaps it was the magic of finding another Cronwall (and he would take the surname of their mother's honorable husband because Ygraine would not want Arthur saddled with the name of her tormenter). Perhaps it was just Magic pushing them together with the joyful pride of the truly accomplished. Perhaps it was all these things or dozens of others. Whatever it was, she couldn't stop holding him like he was a dream that would disappear upon waking.
"Who—who are you?" Arthur questioned, his words muffled against her stomach.
"I am your sister," she replied, tempted against all wisdom to tell him her name despite being where any passing fairy could hear. She ran her fingers through his hair instead. "Our mother wanted to find you for so long. It sickened her with grief to be unable to bypass the magic which has hidden you from us for so long. She would be with me, brother mine, but she could not make the journey from our home in the north."
"I have a mother?" he asked. His voice cracked around the edges of the words, as if his heart was breaking with the knowledge. Knowing how Ector's household treated the supposed bastard of Ector, Morgana could imagine how much this knowledge must hurt. "She lives?"
"Yes," Morgana confirmed, "and if you just say the word, I will take you to her and you will never have to return to Sir Ector's estate unless that is your wish."
"Never?" Arthur asked, sounding like it was both his greatest wish and a lie she making to mock him. She clutched him tighter at the thought.
"Never," Morgana vowed, her voice echoing with the power of Magic herself agreeing with the word. Arthur let out a grateful sob. Morgana wrapped her personal magic around them both and whisked them as far away as she dared, intent on continuing those short little hops until she was too exhausted to do so safely. She would never be so cruel as to risk her brother needlessly.
The fact that Arthur's sudden departure left both Ector and Kay to be embarrassed by the very things they had arranged to blame upon Arthur was just an extra twist of the knife they would have planted in Arthur's pride compared to the frustration Merlin would feel upon realizing that he had lost his pawn.