A DESTINY CHANGED FOREVER

I do not own Merlin or Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

CHAPTER 1

A SECOND CHANCE

This is an alternate universe story that diverges off from the show in the middle of the episode 'The Poisoned Chalice' in Season One. It poses the following question. What would have happened if Nimueh had somehow been stopped from poisoning Merlin? How would things be different from that point on? It briefly features my version of Jenny the Doctor's Daughter from my Doctor Who War of the Guardians universe in the first chapter only. I don't plan on making her a recurring character though at least not at the moment. It takes place just after my story Time and Space for her.

Nimueh watched King Uther Pendragon with disdain from the hallway just outside his main dining room where he waited to greet his incoming guests for the great banquet that was to come and could barely keep from smirking at him. She wanted to laugh in his face and loudly proclaim to him how she had come right into his very home without him noticing, but she knew that she didn't dare to. Even she as powerful as she was would have a hard time fighting all of Uther's knights at once.

Uther wasn't who she had come here to see anyway. It was her newest enemy Merlin who she had come here to kill today instead. She had snuck into Uther's castle in disguise as a handmaiden named Cara in order to poison Merlin with a poisoned chalice in revenge for his having stopped one of her plans against Uther.

All she had to do was to switch one of the chalices with hers and then tell Merlin that it was meant for Arthur. Merlin would then do the rest all by himself. She knew that he would gladly drink the poison in order to protect Arthur.

The plan was perfect. It couldn't fail. As she started to make her way into the dining room to switch the chalices, everything changed though. Forever.

A young blonde woman dressed in strange clothing appeared out of nowhere and bumped into Nimueh causing her to drop the chalice and spill its contents out onto the floor. She cursed at the woman and was immediately met with a punch to the face that knocked her out cold.

"Now, now! There's no need to use such language!" Jenny Tyler, the Doctor and Rose Tyler's daughter, said with a massive grin on her face.

Jenny picked up the chalice and disintegrated it as she used the power of the Bad Wolf for a moment. Then she gestured at the unconscious Nimueh as she lay on the floor and smiled as she was covered with a golden glow for a brief moment.

Merlin came up to her a few seconds later and said, "Jenny? I never thought that I'd see you again. You'd better get out of here before Arthur mistakes you for that Princess Vivian that he knows again though. I remember how annoyed that you got about that the last time."

"He is an annoying little prat, isn't he? Don't worry. I'm not staying around long, Merlin. I just came to repay you for helping me and my parents against Eris recently," Jenny said.

"Repay me? How? What are you going to do?" Merlin asked in confusion.

"I've already done it. I've just changed your life for the better. At least I hope so. Good bye, Merlin. Maybe I'll see you again sometime," Jenny said as she briefly hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

Merlin's face flushed, and then he shook his head in disbelief as Jenny vanished right in front of him in a burst of golden energy. He certainly hoped that he did see Jenny again. She was certainly not like any other girl that he had ever met before.

He quickly looked around to see if anyone had seen what had just happened, but luckily no one had. That was when he noticed the unconscious young woman on the floor. She was just starting to wake up when he saw her. He immediately bent over to help her up as she blinked at him with a glassy eyed expression on her face. He realized that she had no idea where she was or what was going on.

"What happened to me? Why was I on the floor?" Nimueh asked with an upset look on her face.

"I'm afraid I don't know. I just now found you here lying on the floor unconscious. Are you okay?" Merlin asked her with concern.

"I think so. My jaw hurts pretty bad though. I wonder if I fell somehow?" Nimueh said in a dazed state.

"I don't see how. There's nothing in here that you could have fallen off of or run into," Merlin said as he quickly looked around him.

Then Merlin remembered that Jenny had just been here. Had Jenny knocked her out? That was the only answer that made any sense. Why would she have attacked this poor woman though? She looked perfectly harmless. No, it must have been something else that happened. Jenny would never attack an innocent woman.

"I don't remember who I am!" Nimueh said in a panicked state.

"You don't remember anything?" Merlin asked.

"No. All I remember is that my name is Cara. That's it. Do you know who I am?" the newly renamed Cara said.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm Prince Arthur's manservant, Merlin. I could take you to the king's physician, Gaius, if you want. Maybe he could help you regain your memory somehow," Merlin offered.

"I guess I should go and see him then if you're sure that will be okay," Cara said hesitantly.

"It'll be fine," Merlin said with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Merlin," Cara said as she smiled back at him.

Merlin was only just now beginning to notice how beautiful she was. He hoped that Gaius could help her. He also hoped that she lived in Camelot and wasn't visiting there from somewhere else.

That was just so that it might be easier to identify her of course. That's all.

As soon as the two of them arrived in the quarters that Merlin shared with Gaius, Gaius said without looking up, "Arthur's been looking for you, Merlin. He started shouting something about making you clean out the stables again if you didn't show up in the dining room soon."

"I had something more important to do than to mess with His Royal Pratness. Cara here has lost her memory. All she remembers is her name. Can you help her? Maybe give her a potion to bring it back or something?" Merlin asked.

"I'll do my best, Merlin. Just go on and attend to Arthur before he throws you in the stockade . . . again!" Gaius said with a grin with his eyes still on the new potion that he was making.

"Just stay here okay, Cara? Gaius will help you," Merlin reassured her before leaving.

"Alright. Thank you, Merlin," Cara said as she smiled at him again and made his face blush.

Gaius looked up in horror as he recognized Cara's voice as being Nimueh's. He stared at her in silence for a moment while neither of them spoke. Cara knew that something was wrong, but she couldn't imagine what it was.

"Did I do something wrong? Am I not supposed to be here? Merlin said that it was okay," Cara finally said.

"What are you up to, Nimueh? If you're here to hurt Merlin in some way, I'll stop you," Gaius said in anger.

Cara started to back away in fear as she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. She was so intent on getting out of the room, she almost ran right into Prince Arthur.

Arthur caught her and prevented her from colliding with him as he said, "Watch out there, miss. We almost had a little accident."

Cara's eyes widened as she realized who Arthur, and she began to apologize to him profusely as she said, "I'm so sorry, Your Highness. I think that I may have come here in error. Merlin said that it was okay for me to see the physician to treat my amnesia. If it's not though, I apologize. I'm also sorry for almost running into you. I was trying to leave, and I didn't see you there. I'm so sorry. My mind is all fuzzy, and I'm not thinking clearly."

"It's alright for Gaius to help you if you have a pressing need. At least Merlin was doing something useful for once this time instead of sleeping or standing around doing nothing as usual. Are you sure that you have amnesia? I thought that was when you didn't remember anything. You know who I am though. Are you sure that it's not some kind of head injury instead?" Arthur asked her in concern.

"I don't know, Your Highness. All I remember about myself is my name, Cara. Everything else is a blank. It's so strange. I can remember you and the basic details of life here in Camelot, but I don't remember anything about myself at all. It's extremely frustrating," Cara said in a voice that was half scared and half irritated.

"Sometimes a person can have amnesia that only affects their memories of themselves, but they remember everything else perfectly fine. I have heard of cases like this before," Gaius explained.

"Oh. I didn't know that. Do your best to help her then, Gaius. I'll be by to check up on her again later. Right now I have to make sure that Merlin actually went back to work after dropping Cara off here, or if he went straight to the tavern instead. I wouldn't put it past him. Although why he'd want to leave you, Cara, I have no idea. He never did have much sense though," Arthur said as he gave her a warm smile and left.

Cara was surprised at how nice the Prince was to her. She had heard that he didn't look down on his servants like other royalty did, but he had gone out of his way to be extra gracious to her. Of course, that might have just been because she had lost her memory.

She looked back at Gaius to see him looking at her in puzzlement instead of in anger now. She couldn't understand why he was acting so oddly around her. Why had he said those strange things to her before Arthur entered the room?

Maybe he had mistaken her for someone else. She started to calm down somewhat as she thought that must be it. He must have confused her with someone else for a moment.

"I'm not this person that you think I am. At least I don't think so. My name's Cara. I'm pretty sure that I would never hurt Merlin though. I only just met him, and he was nothing but kind to me," Cara said.

Gaius realized that she wasn't acting. Nimueh really had lost her memory and thought that she was someone else now. He had heard of things like this happening as well, but they were very rare occurrences. He also knew that sooner or later the victims of such maladies usually remembered who they were again. He had to get Nimueh out of Camelot before that happened.

"I'm afraid that I can't help you, Cara, but maybe if you go to the next village they can help you there. I know a man there named Humphries. He's an expert on this kind of thing where I only have a very limited knowledge of it. I could give you directions there if you'd like," Gaius said as he lied to her to get her to leave.

"I don't think that I could travel that far on foot before nightfall, and I don't want to be out alone after dark because of thieves. I don't even have a horse. I don't think. Maybe my memory will come back on its own if I just give it time. Thank you anyway," Cara said as she started to leave with a disappointed and worried look on her face.

That's what I'm afraid of. Gaius thought to himself.

"Where are you going to go to? You don't remember where you live?" Gaius pointed out.

"That's true. I forgot about that," Cara said.

Then she laughed at herself as she said, "I didn't mean to be funny."

Gaius couldn't help but feel sorry for Cara even though he knew just how evil she really was normally. He was actually starting to like the new her, and part of him wished that she could stay this way. Cara was much like Nimueh used to be back when they had been friends a long time ago. He had been very close to her back then, and it had left a lasting wound on his soul when she had turned to darkness.

He almost hoped that someway somehow she had come back to her original self. He would be so happy for his old friend if that were true.

"Cara, why don't you stay here for a while? At least until you get your memory back. I can arrange to give you Merlin's bed so that you can have some privacy. I wouldn't think on turning you out alone with nowhere to go," Gaius said.

"What about Merlin?" Cara asked.

"I'll find him a place to sleep somewhere. Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll be happy to do it," Gaius said.

"Are you sure?" Cara asked.

"Yes, it's fine. It's just until you remember who you are again and can go home," Gaius said.

"Alright. Thank you, Gaius!" Cara said.

She then hugged him for a moment to show her gratitude. He hugged her back despite himself. It was almost as if he had gotten the old Nimueh back.

He hoped that she never regained her memory. He wanted this to be a second chance for her. He needed for that to happen. Part of him had to believe that could come true.

He would let her stay here and watch over her. If she started to remember, he would be in the perfect position to stop her before she became dangerous. If she didn't, then he would help her to start a new life for herself somewhere far away from here and hopefully keep Uther from seeing her in the meantime.

He just hoped that he wasn't making a mistake. He felt that he owed it to the woman that she used to be to try though.

Next: Will Cara remember who she really is, or will she stay the kind hearted woman that she's become. Also what about her magic? Does she still possess that, and can she remember how to use it? Also just how loudly will Merlin grumble about being kicked out of his own bed, or will he not mind too much as long as Cara is around? Find out in the next chapter.