A.N.~ Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or its characters, cause if I did- well...
Anyway main pair is Merlin/Arthur. No slash.
Update: Chapters 1-6 rewritten 9/17.
Chapter One
Being reborn was a terrible experience. One moment Arthur was in a quiet and comfortable place surrounded by warmth with a solid badump as the only noise, then there was unbearable pressure and blinding light—coldness. He sucked in air and wailed entirely disoriented, his last memory was of that idiot manservant of his crying like a girl (as always) and then nothing—dying.
There were unfamiliar hands all around touching him and he cries harder. The world around him is bleary and entirely too bright. Through his own cries he hears a voice soft and exhausted,
"Let me hold him."
He is passed over and enveloped in warmth again—the faint scent of honey suckle and sweat reaches his nose. There's that voice again and he falls silent,
"Oh, he's beautiful. My Arthur."
The voice is growing weaker, the arms supporting him slumping. He is wrenched away from the warmth and back into the cold. The reborn king cries out his disagreement but is overpowered by louder, more frantic voices.
"Your Highness!...Hurry we're losing her!"
He wriggles still crying as he feels himself carried away. The last thing he hears is a monotone beeep before a deep roar of grief and pain cries out. He knows that voice, heard it in his past life. Cold, distant, commanding—Father. The door slams shut and abruptly there is silence.
-[XXXX]- Arthur 2 yrs. Old –[XXXX]-
It is strange adjusting to being little more than a baby. Going from King to an infant who can't even feed himself is beyond frustrating. Getting used to this future time with the advanced technology, which in Arthur's previous life could only have been done by magic, was a shock at first. The prince has since grown used to it. Indoor plumbing is a wonderful thing, but he must be careful with his actions and speech to not appear too advanced for a two year old. Even with his precautions, the reborn king grows ahead of other children by leaps and bounds.
Yet all is not well—it is the height of the Purge again.
This time Arthur knows it is wrong. He is no longer a blind child. The Once and Future King knows that the Purge is not to eradicate evil or to protect the people, it is only the culmination of his father's hatred. It's bred by grief and the foul actions of a single sorceress. Magic, he knows, does not corrupt people—hatred does.
Having magic doesn't make a sorcerer evil. How can it when Merlin—loyal, bumbling, idiotic Merlin had magic. Even though it stung knowing his friend had not trusted him with the knowledge of his magic the prince knows Merlin is not evil. However, he is only a child, too weak to do anything but watch as thousands die and he is powerless to save them.
Arthur managed to sneak away from the nursemaid (nanny in this time) once and found a TV turned on. It was another news reel of his father's men rounding up people who were accused of magic and never seen again. In those terrified faces he can only see guileless blue eyes, big ears, strong high cheekbones and he vows that this time will be different.
He will be different. The prince doesn't know if he is the only one who has been reborn, but he hopes not. Either way, he plans to free magic—to end his father's reign of terror. The nanny eventually finds him there, staring at the screen and watching the death caused by the Purge. She quickly carts him away.
-[XXXX]- Arthur 5 yrs. Old –[XXXX]-
Morgana was brought to the castle, again as his father's ward, though she is called Morgan now. He knows she is his reincarnated sister for even at seven years old she has the same regal presence. The consummate actress—she conceals her hatred and contempt well, but Arthur has known her all his previous life and he can easily glimpse her emotions.
He tries to speak to her alone, but she avoids the once king. That is, when she isn't mocking him—so similar to how she used to tease him when they were children in another life. He aches; however, there is a malicious cast to her actions, similar to how she was when the former priestess fell into darkness and hatred. Arthur wonders if she remembers as he does.
Morgan falls ill. Something to do with her appendix. After the surgery she spends a day in the hospital before their father insists she finishes recovering at home.
That night the prince sneaks into her room. His sister is paler than usual but still beautiful in the moonlight which filters through the crack in the curtains. Arthur takes her hand and holds it. Asleep like she is, Morgan looks so innocent. The former king almost snorts at the thought. Even before she got magic his sister was never innocent, always up to mischief and causing trouble.
He didn't know why, maybe looking down at her Arthur knew he wouldn't be able to say this to her while she was awake, but he feels he has too. The future king needs to make this promise—to her and to himself.
"You were my sister too, in a past life. Beautiful, compassionate, clever—even for all your annoying qualities I loved you as a sister long before I discovered you truly were.
But then you got magic and became dark and twisted by hatred and fear. And I—"
His breath was stuttering now, the golden haired man had never been good with emotions, but he had to say this out loud just once.
"I failed you. You didn't know—I didn't tell—"
He almost sobbed but managed to hold it back as memories of her betrayal and hatred for him resurfaced. The pain of her loathing, and then realizing she had magic, that she had turned away from Camelot, from him out of fear. Her fear had become hate and that hatred became a madness and a darkness which had destroyed her. He couldn't let that happen again. He wouldn't.
"I promise. This time you'll know you won't have to be alone. When your magic comes I will protect you from father. I will be there for you this time—so that you will have a chance to let your magic be as beautiful as it was always meant to be.
I promise to find a way to let you know that you can turn to me and I will be there for you. I will protect you this time sister, and not just you. When I grow older and stronger I will fight to protect all my people—magic and non-magical alike."
His words rang out into the silence of Morgan's room. A promise. A vow. This time he would not fail her.
He squeezed her hand gently, careful not to wake his sister before quietly slipping out of the room.
And in the silence after the click of the closing door pale, grey eyes opened wary and maybe a little bit hopeful.
-[XXXX]- Arthur age ten –[XXXX]-
Even after having known her for years it was Leon (called Leo) not Morgan who admitted first to remembering his past life.
Arthur had finally met the other at his tenth birthday celebration. As in his old life, Leo was the son of his father's Head of Security and would most likely take over the position when he got older. Even though the former knight was five years Arthur's senior they became fast friends. The older boy was just as loyal and reserved as he was in their past life. When Leo wasn't in school and the young prince wasn't stuck inside with dull tutors they often hung out.
It was once day between endless tutor lessons that they were just coming back from playing footie on the palace lawn when a bucketful of ice water was dropped on them from above. After their cries of surprise both boys looked up to see the smirking face of Arthur's sister.
"Morgan!" He cried.
The young girl above them only laughed, "Look! Now you more closely resemble a wet dog, it's appropriate, I think."
Then she disappeared back inside. For some reason Morgan had gotten more relaxed around him—more like the sister from before magi. Though he could have done without the return of the pranks.
Arthur turned to Leo, "Well, we'll have to stay out here until we dry off. Luckily in this heat it shouldn't take too long."
It was then that he finally caught sight of the other boy's face—it was contemplative and a bit shadowed. Before he could ask what the problem was Leo spoke.
"Arthur—Sire…I…," the former knight seemed to lose his confidence because he didn't finish his sentence. The once king was caught by surprise. Leo had never called him Sire before, not in this life. After the first week of 'Your Highness'es and 'My Prince's he had finally managed to convince the other to just call him Arthur—at least when it was just the two of them. Before he could ponder more on the old moniker Leo managed to gather his courage and squaring his shoulders continued, "Sire, I believe you should be wary of Morgan."
He took a step back in surprise, suddenly looking at his former knight with a new light. The other boy was standing tense but with a determined look in his eyes that Arthur remembered from the council meetings in his previous life. The young prince decided to take the risk of seeming crazy. He stood to his full height and looked Leo straight in the eyes.
"So you remember."
The older boy's eyes widened, clearly not expecting that response before he started stuttering out a reply, "I—um—that is—"
Arthur finally decided to take pity on his friend's flustered state, "It' okay, I remember too…Leon."
He took a moment to admire the truly shocked face Leo bore. Even in their past life it was always difficult to get something over on the other so seeing usually stoic knight lose his composure was a treat, but them Arthur remembered the topic of their conversation and turned serious once more. Just as Leo was gaining back his fortitude he continued, "However, I will hear nothing against Morgan—"
"But, Sire! She betrayed you," Leo interrupted. His shock must truly have been deep because it was most unlike him to cut his prince off. In their past life the knight was always too respectful to dare, and even in this life when they were closer friends the other maintained the same level of deference. Arthur noticed his friend looking ready to enter a long-winded argument so he cut him off once again.
"I will not hear it, Leon," the other's past name slipped out due to the heatedness of their topic, "I do not know is she remembers or not, but this is a new life—for all of us—especially her! And I have vowed that I will see magic free of my father's hatred so that what happened last time does not repeat itself. If I have to rebel I will! And this time I will stand with her. You can either stand with me as you did in our past life, or you can stand with my father, but I will not let this cycle continue."
We stand staring at each other, both equally surprised by the impassioned speech, but Arthur knows he meant every word. Leo opened his mouth to respond before it immediately clicked shut and his friend is glaring mistrustfully over the young prince's shoulder. He turns around to see Morgan carefully stepping from behind a bush. She is looking at them with a neutral expression, but he knows his sister well enough to see the hope in her eyes.
"So you meant what you said," she says looking to her half-brother and for the moment ignoring Leo, "that time you snuck into my chambers."
He knows instantly what she is talking about and has to fight down a blush, though judging by the ghost of a smirk Arthur can see on her face he did not entirely succeed. She knows well from this life and his past life the reborn kind's aversion to such a girly thing as spouting out about feelings. To have been caught doing just that—
Arthur pouts at her, though he would never admit to such, because even though he was a reincarnated King, he was also a ten year old and there must be some allowances for immaturity.
"Gana," he says, using her old nickname from when they were children in their previous lives. "You were supposed to be asleep!"
Morgan's ghost of a smirk turns full blown and she retorts, "Well, as a renowned hunter as you claimed to be you should have been capable of a little thing called stealth! You sounded like a herd of cattle sneaking into my room—then you started braying like a dog. Anyone who could sleep through that would have needed to be deaf."
As he opened his mouth to retort that a) he was an excellent hunter and b) he had only been five and she should try being sneaky when she was stuck with the coordination of a five year old when Leo loudly coughed gaining his prince's attention and giving one of his meaningful looks. Arthur stood up straighter and turned back to Morgan who was once again looking at him with a neutral expression.
The Once and Future King stared straight into her pale, grey almost silver eyes, "Yes, I meant it. Every word and promise."
Her tense shoulders relaxed and a slight smile graced her lips—He returned it with a broader one of his before turning back to the former knight.
"What say you Sir Leon," Arthur asked, holding out his hand. "Will you stand with me again?"
The other boy looks hesitantly behind him towards Morgan before giving a deep sigh and clasping my forearm, "Of course, Sire, I will always stand with you."
Arthur beams and reaches up to clap his friend solidly on the back grimacing inwardly because Leo is taller than he is at fifteen. (The young prince couldn't wait to hit his own growth spurt.) He knows it will take a while for the other boy to truly trust Morgan again, and it will be the same when he finds the others, for the others must be out there somewhere, he can feel it. The future king can only hope they remember like Morgan, Leo, and himself. His court might have trouble accepting Morgan, like Leo, but it would be worth it. He knew.
"So," Arthur says. "What exactly happened to my kingdom after I died? Did you even survive the Battle at Camlann?"
Both Leo and Morgan wince slightly but the former knight smiles grimly knowing my topic change for what it was.
"Yes indeed, I did survive the battle and returned to Camelot to serve Lady Guinevere; however, I am afraid I cannot tell you much. A few of the neighboring kingdoms figured that with a female on the throne and especially because of her common background, compounded with the upheaval from your… death.. that Camelot would be vulnerable to conquest. There were quite a few more battles," here he hesitated but his prince's raised eyebrow prompted him to continue.
"Even with…Merlin's assistance…" Again Leo paused, this time looking at Morgan whose countenance had turned dark at the mention of the king's former manservant. Arthur figured that with Merlin being the one who had killed her that she would be a little bitter about the warlock. He hoped that when they ran into his errant servant (and he would, even if he had to hunt the clumsy idiot down himself), that she would be able to forgive the other for finally killing her.
Then what Leo had said finally sunk in.
"Wait, Merlin's assistance?" The young prince questioned looking at his former knight.
The other looks back at him with a little trepidation, "Soon after he returned to Camelot, Lady Guinevere repealed the laws against magic and appointed Merlin, Court Sorcerer," here Leo gave a small reminiscent smile and Arthur felt a stab of jealousy that the other had gotten to see more of the magical side of Merlin that he had.
Before he could think on the feeling further the former knight continued, "It was a title he always objected to—citing that he was a warlock and not a sorcerer. A warlock being vastly more powerful, and Merlin was powerful; however, even with all his might each battle was harrowing. It was against the forces of King Lot that I was killed."
Leo stares off into the distance, a haunted look in his eyes.