Destinies Surround Us

By

Numb3rsfan

Warnings: Angst, possible heavy AU, possible OOC, Violence

Disclaimer: Don't own Merlin, this is just for the enjoyment of the reader.

Author's Notes: I tried doing something like this before and it didn't turn out too well. I keep trying to turn away from it but like a bad penny this idea just keeps popping up, so I write it now. Depending on reception, this may become a series, but for right now its not.

Summary: Its 2012. A girl who stumbled upon Nimueh's hideout suddenly finds herself thrown back in time. She knows she doesn't belong but things get worse when Camelot is attacked and the girl herself finds out she has magic. Now she must help to defend Camelot with the rest of its people or die trying, and if she does survive will she ever be able to get back to her own time or will she even want to?

-Prologue-

The crunch of gravel under her feet was the only sound that Susanna heard as she looked around the abandoned ruins. She, her parents and her elder brother had taken a vacation from the United States all the way to Great Britain; with stops at Scotland and Wales along the way. The year was 2012 and truth be told this was the second family vacation the family had ever taken.

A few nights ago while she had been trying to sleep Susanna kept hearing her parents arguing. It was the stuff of nightmares really; normally she'd just cover her ears and try to ignore it but because of the thin walls of the hotel room, just trying to ignore it proved impossible. Susanna had then risen up, gotten dressed and left the hotel room. She had just wanted to go away until the arguing stopped but once she had hit the street she started walking and didn't turn back.

That was six nights ago. She had walked and walked, and for a little change of pace she had walked some more.

She had been in a dense forest for the past few days and while the animals that she heard frightened her she pressed on until she found herself standing at a misty shore. Up ahead was an island that appeared to have once housed something grand. Spying a small boat, Susanna had taken it and rowed to the ruins.

Now here she was exploring the place. The cold wind blew, blowing her hair back as she continued to walk. The place looked old; older than the 5th or 6th Century. There were remnants of statues and other blocks strewn everywhere as well as stairs that seemed to lead no where.

Spying a set of stone steps that led downwards, Susanna followed them down in to a small chamber. In the middle of the chamber was what looked to be a stone pedestal which was full of water. The pedestal itself was elaborately adorned with different pictures all along its sides.

Leaning up against the pedestal was a book bound with an unknown type of leather. The book looked like it would fall apart if touched, so Susanna gently picked it up. The book was heavier than it had originally appeared but even so Susanna could feel it crumbling in her hands.

Spying a smooth boulder just steps away, Susanna moved over to it and sat down before she started to gently flip through the book. The pages were filled with a language she didn't know. It wasn't French or Spanish or even Pig Latin. She then thought it was possibly a derivative of Elvish, from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series, but after close examination Susanna discovered that the language wasn't even close.

Gently Susanna put the book down as something else caught her attention. On the other side of the pedestal, lying on the ground was a leather bag; the drawstring on the bag was still wrapped loosely around the bag.

Rising, she went over and picked the bag up, opening it up moments later to examine the contents.

To her it looked like nothing more than dust, but it also sparkled. "Some people like the weirdest things…" Susanna mumbled to herself. As she turned to go back to the book a gust of wind entered the chamber, passing over everything including the book. A few pages were ripped away and disappeared in to the darkness. Susanna made to go after the pages but a feeling in the pit of her stomach told her not to.

Shaking she returned to the book and sat down next to it, eying the page that she could see. Taking a deep breath she opened her mouth and began to try and pronounce what was on the paper. It sounded foreign to her and she believed that she was gutting whatever language she was trying to speak. When she finished a low tone caught her attention. The tone got louder and louder until it was loud enough that Susanna had to cover her ears. Then all of a sudden the tone stopped.

Rising, she looked around wondering what could have made the tone. Her eyes fell on the pedestal. The water was moving; displaying pictures that reminded her of a slide projector. The pictures seemed to be moving as if they were alive.

Continuing to watch, Susanna studied the people and images she saw. At first she saw a huge castle with a dragon crest. The dragon was a golden color but the rest of the crest was red. Next she saw an older man wearing a crown. The man had graying hair and a scar over his eye. After that she saw another man. He was much younger than the other one. The young man wore a crown and a red cape. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes and it looked to Susanna as if he were a man of authority. Finally she saw another figure. This person was a young man with black hair and blue eyes. He wore a blue shirt, red scarf around his neck and a light brown jacket that to Susanna's eyes almost looked like a bright leather brown color.

Slowly she reached out and touched the image. As she did so a blinding flash of light suddenly filled the chamber. The light was coming from the pedestal. It was so bright that Susanna backed away, putting her hands over her eyes to take away some of the pain.

As she backed away she tripped over something and fell back, hitting her head on the rock wall.

As darkness moved in to claim her, a low rumble of thunder could barely be heard.

['Thunder? The sun was shining when I came down…'] Susanna thought to herself before she passed out.

MERLINMERLINMERLIN

Awaking from sleep Susanna opened her eyes and sat up. As the room came in to focus, so did the memories.

Rising she dusted herself off and looked around. The chamber was brighter, the pedestal looked cleaner too. Besides this Susanna noticed that the book was nowhere to be found. The bag that she had found earlier was still clutched in her hand though.

Releasing her fingers, Susanna retied the bag and stuck it in her pocket before realizing that instead of the dark black shirt, jeans and black boots she had been wearing, she was now wearing a dark blue dress. The dress was simple; boring even and it looked to have seen better days. Glancing down at her feet Susanna saw that instead of boots she was wearing a simple, ivory colored pair of sandals.

"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder…" she told herself as she made her way out of the chamber. Outside it was still muggy, dark storm clouds were high in the sky but as of yet it wasn't raining, nor was thunder adorning the sky.

Finding the small boat exactly where she had left it, Susanna used the boat to leave the ruins and return to the main shore. She had had enough. Arguing or no, she wanted to return to her parents and leave Great Britain.

Upon returning to the shore she hiked east for several hours. She was positive that it was the way back to the hotel, but even as she walked nothing looked familiar to her. The trees were greener as was the grass. The air smelled sweeter; more outdoorsy that she remembered.

"It's okay…calm down…don't freak out." She murmured to herself. Inside she was screaming in fright. She had no idea where she was and she had no idea how to get back. She knew the first thing she should do was just stop and wait, but doing that in a freakishly huge forest didn't seem very smart, so she pressed on.

A sound behind her caused Susanna to turn and nearly freak out. It was a large animal unlike any she had ever seen. It was big, it had two feet and two claw like hands; a large tail, a hump on its back that reminded her of bony wings and then there was the face…it was almost lizard like in its ugliness.

The creature and the girl looked at each other for a moment before Susanna started to run. She knew that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but she wanted to get away from that creature. Susanna didn't even need to turn around to know that the creature was following her; the crashing noises behind her was proof enough for her.

Gulping she started to do the only thing she could; zig zag, hoping that the creature's eye sight was poor enough that he couldn't track her easily. Susanna ran and ran and ran until she was forced to stop at the edge of a dirt cliff. The fall looked to be a bad one and while Susanna was sure the fall wouldn't kill her it would definitely leave her with some broken bones.

Turning back around Susanna backed up against a tree as the creature approached her, its long tongue hanging out, dripping with saliva. Trembling, Susanna tried to slow her breathing, knowing that this was the end. She didn't want to die like a coward but in the face of such a creature…

Susanna closed her eyes and shielded her face with her arm. Just when she thought the creature would jump on her, she heard the creature roar in pain. Lowering her arm Susanna saw an arrow sticking out of its side. All of a sudden all hell seemed to break loose because there were men wearing some sort of metal, as well as red cloaks rush out of the trees, swords held high.

In shock and fright Susanna lowered herself to the ground as the creature turned to fight against the red cloaked men. Shaking almost uncontrollably what happened next seemed to go by in a flash. One minute the creature was alive and charging at the group, the next a man with dirty blond hair stepped up and thrust his sword in to the side of the creature, killing it instantly.

Seeing the creature hit the ground, Susanna began to hyperventilate with fright. She was still shaking, still not believing what had just happened.

"Calm down, we're not going to hurt you."

Gulping, Susanna forced herself to look up at her savior's, especially the one that had spoken. As she studied the man with the dirty blond hair she realized that it was the same man she had seen in the pedestal before the light had blinded her.

Smoothly the man took his sword back, wiped it off and re sheathed it before approaching the frightened girl.

"Are you alright?" The man asked.

Slowly Susanna forced herself to nod her head a little, even though she was still shaking violently.

The man seeing her shake took off his red cloak and wrapped it around the girl's shoulders.

"It's okay you are safe now. Can you tell me your name?" The man asked.

The cloak that the man had put around her shoulders was soft and warm; almost like a comforting hug or a handshake. Closing her eyes, Susanna forced herself to calm down a little so she could answer the man's question. Opening her eyes again she looked at the man once more before she whispered, "I'm…Susanna."

"Well Susanna, I am Prince Arthur," Arthur began, but upon seeing the girl's face he decided to elaborate more, "…of Camelot?"

The word Camelot flew over Susanna's head for a moment before the reality of her situation came down on her like a lightning bolt. Camelot wasn't supposed to be real, and she had highly doubted that King…wait a minute…he said 'Prince' right? How could this Prince Arthur be real?

Susanna started shaking again. "No…No!" she said. She couldn't control herself. This just couldn't be happening! She was hyperventilating again as she tried to get away from Arthur who just looked at her quizzically.

"We're not going to hurt you!" Arthur called after her.

Susanna dropped the cloak and turned to run before walking right in to another person. This person seemed to be a year or two older than her. He had dark hair, blue eyes and he was wearing a brown jacket, blue shirt and red scarf he was…

Eyes going as big as saucers Susanna took a step backwards away from the newcomer before falling to the ground. She felt hands all around her, trying to catch her but apparently she had fallen too fast.

As darkness began to close in all around her she vaguely heard Arthur say, "Come on, we need to get her back to Camelot."