Chapter One

Remembrance


Merlin straightened up slightly as he began to regain consciousness, a foul smell of rotted vegetation coursing though his head and clinging to it much like dehydration seemed to after his rare nights at the tavern. His eyes we're fully open now yet Merlin could sill barely see a thing, the little light that entered the small damp room he had been tied up in only served to dance in small spots on the floor before him.

"I trust you slept well." Morgana's voice rose as if to taunt as her hand gently slid over the back of Merlin's tunic, dipping slightly at his spine in order to send a shiver though Merlin's very being, oh how she loved to put an enemy on edge. Her feet danced over the uneven floor until she stood facing Merlin where her eyes met with his, unmoving and harsh to her surprise as he stiffened up slightly, his hands still attached to the ceiling making his height still lower than that of Morgana.

"What do you want with me?" Merlin asked, afraid of the small quake he had heard in his voice letting out fear he tried to be as distant as possible to her. A smile played on Morgana's lips, Merlin made her impatient and although he had not always been this way Morgana could not let her mind remember how Merlin used to be, how she used to find him insightful, witty and clever and how had her so-called father been more lenient she would have been his gladly. No, Morgana's mind could not dwell on these matters.

Her smile faded in to a devious grin, "Want? The true question Merlin is as to what I desire. And that you know all too well as you alone seem to thwart my plans more than any other." He could hear the anger in her voice rising, of course there was no doubt in his mind that this was about Arthur, it was always about Arthur. Merlin let out a small sigh, why couldn't Morgana stay as she had been, a creature of nobility and beauty, or course her beauty had remained one of her prominent features, yet now it was masked by a veil of impure deeds and desires.

Perhaps...no, Merlin's thoughts were stupid; there was no way for Morgana to turn back, no way for him to change either of their destinies, not now and not ever! No this wasn't even worth a try, of course once Morgana had been as sweet and fragrant as a freshly picked flower but now that flower had wilted and shriveled in to merely a cast of its former self. And though all of this was true, Merlin still found himself willing the possibility forward.

"Morgana," He began a lump rising in his throat as her piercing eyes turned upon him, "Do you remember how things used to be?"