So I know that a lot of people have done stories like this, but I think we do it because we feel like it's a possibility. Like maybe if we wish hard enough, something like this will happen. This is obviously a future fic (although the prologue is set immediately after Merlin pushes Arthur's barge out into the lake).
I hope you all like it, and please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. If I did, Mergana would have happened, Morgana and Mordred would have become good, and Arthur would most definitely not have died... And the series would still be going.
Prologue: The End Of The Beginning
After hours of watching Arthur, lying afloat on the boat as if sleeping, Merlin stumbled away from the glittering lake. He practically crawled up the hill, after falling so many times he could no longer get back up. He neared the body of Morgana, once one of his closest friends. Despite the fact that Merlin had pierced the witch's heart, she was still breathing, desperately clinging to life.
"Merlin." Morgana gasped, wrapping her fingers weakly around his wrist. Once upon a time, Morgana had fantasized about a future with Merlin. She did not mind that he was just a servant, a mere farm boy. He had always been one whom she could trust and confide in. After all, they were one and the same. "Arthur… Where is he?"
Merlin glared down upon her. "Dead. Your dear Mordred saw to that."
"Arthur's dead, too?" Morgana whispered, tears falling down her face as she struggled to breathe. "So is Mordred. How are they both dead?"
"I don't know, wasn't Mordred your one true love?" Merlin hissed.
"He was my brother, you fool!" She exclaimed. "It seems that Uther had more than one tryst in his time. Mordred was half brother to both Arthur and myself."
"He was your brother?" Merlin gasped, shocked.
"Yes, he was. I never told him, but that is why I was so fond of him. I believe that's why both Arthur and I helped him escape all those years ago. We both knew, deep down. We were a family."
"If you were such a family, then why did Mordred kill Arthur? Why have you been trying to destroy Arthur for so long?" Merlin asked.
"Because family is family. I trusted my sister, Morgause. However, she charmed me when she died. Placed a curse on me. She lived through my body. I was living in my mind, but she slowly overtook it, claimed it, and pushed me to the very back. I tried to keep you safe, Merlin. I tried to keep all of you safe. You were my friends. She imprisoned me in my own head. I could not act or speak against her will, no matter how hard I tried to break free. Only tears of true despair could ever break the curse. I shed those tears when Mordred died. I was furious with Arthur for killing Mordred and I was ready for vengeance, but after you… After you stabbed me, Merlin, I realised that I had been living with Morgause in my head for so long that I had started to become like her. The darkness was such a part of me, I couldn't let it go." Morgana let out a shallow cough as blood oozed from her wound, trickling over her dark, torn robes to the forest floor.
As Merlin watched, a twinge of guilt ran through him as he realised he had already been responsible for the deaths of too many members of the Pendragon family.
Morgana, her coughing now subsided, grimaced as she shifted her weight, her breathing becoming shallower by the second. "I was waiting to… to apologise to Arthur. To seek his forgiveness for both Mordred and myself."
"So was Morgause in Mordred's head too then?" Merlin asked her.
Morgana smiled ruefully and shook her head. "No, that child would have done anything I asked of him. He did do everything I asked of him. I brought him down, or Morgause brought him down through me."
"I never liked her much." Merlin stated.
Morgana laughed softly, and Merlin could again see the beautiful young woman standing in a window of the castle, looking out upon the kingdom which adored her. "Oh, I could sense that much. You were never too discreet about your like or dislike for people."
"Hmmm, I guess I'm an open book." He said.
Morgana looked at him, and he noticed that the spark which used to light up her eyes was no longer there. And her skin, always white as ebony, seemed so pale it looked sickly. But that crazed, vengeful look that had been about her in all of their recent encounters was no longer there. He didn't think she looked so unwell because she was 'evil'. It was because she was now dying.
"Morgana." Merlin grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together. "Don't go. Stay. Come back to Camelot with me. You can start over, get your old life back."
She shook her head weakly. "They'll all despise me. They would chase me out of the town with pitchforks immediately."
"No. No. They'd forgive you. We could show them that it wasn't you."
"I wish that were true, Merlin. But we will never be able to convince them, no matter how hard we may try."
"But Gwen… she's Queen now. She could make them believe…"
Morgana reached one hand up and laid it on Merlin's cheek. It felt so warm and alive beneath her ice-cold fingertips and palm. "I am responsible for the death of the man she loved. I tried to have both her and Arthur disposed of many times. I killed Elian, her dear brother. I feel we would have more luck convincing all of Albion of my mental innocence."
Merlin's head fell. He tried desperately to hold back his tears, but a few small droplets escaped, and as he was bent over Morgana, they splashed onto her cheeks.
"Don't cry for me, dear Merlin. You have always been one of my closest friends. Even when I seemed intent on slaughtering you, it was memories of us that kept me strong, kept me fighting Morgause for my freedom and your lives. Sometimes it was just you and I that I thought of, other times it was the four of us. When I was with you I felt as though I could do anything I wanted to do, be anyone I wanted to be."
"Don't leave me." Merlin whispered. "I have already lost Freya. I can't lose you, too. I cannot lose both of the women I care about."
"Hush Merlin." Morgana ran her thumb over Merlin's cheek, however she was unsure as to whether she was trying to comfort him, or herself. "This will not be the last time we see each other. Arthur is the Once and Future King."
Merlin nodded.
"So, who says we can't be his Once and Future friends? You and I… If we combine our magic, we would be strong enough to cast a spell of reincarnation over all of those who played a significant role in Arthur's life. We would be there to support him in his rise."
"We're able to do that?" Merlin asked. He'd never even heard of a reincarnation spell like that before. He'd heard of spells to bring one person back to life, or to raise the dead, but nothing that would enable the rise of a Queen, two sorcerers, a witch, a druid, a King, and a few knights as well.
"Merlin, you are Emrys, the greatest wizard to live throughout all of time and history. And I am the Fey. Together, we can do absolutely anything."
"Is it Dark Magic?" Merlin questioned.
"No, but it is powerful, and it is from the Old Religion. But it's not dark."
Still, Merlin looked unconvinced.
"Merlin." Morgana whispered. "Please trust me. Let me make amends. I'm still the girl who watched you walk into Camelot from the window of her chamber."
After a few minutes of silent pondering, Merlin nodded his consent. "Ok, what do I have to do?"
"Nothing." Morgana held out her hand and he took it, their fingers twining together. "Just focus everything within you on what I'm saying. Aim all of your power, centring them on my words only. Do not let your mind slip to anything else."
The memory of Arthur, dying in his arms, came to him suddenly, but with great effort the warlock managed to push that thought from his mind.
"Ok. That sounds simple enough." Merlin stated.
Morgana grinned, but there was something odd in her expression. Something almost sad. "Just wait until it drains all of your power."
Morgana opened her mouth to begin the spell, but Merlin cut in. "After this, you'll come back to Camelot with me?"
Morgana's answer was not immediate, and it came very slowly when she did respond. "Of course. Merlin, I've always trusted you more than anyone. More, even, than Gwen. As soon as I began to know of my powers, I knew that you were of magic, also. I knew you were Emrys, son of magic and protector of the Once and Future King. If we get through this, I'll go anywhere…" Morgana gasped in pain and clutched at her sword wound.
"Let me heal you!" Merlin exclaimed, watching his old friend clench her eyes closed in agony.
"No." She managed through grit teeth. "We have to do this spell. You can heal me after."
She knew very well that Merlin would not get the chance to heal her. That was why they needed to cast the spell immediately.
Merlin sighed, knowing he would never be able to win this argument. That was where Arthur and Morgana were exactly the same: they were too stubborn for their own good. "Ok. But you will let me heal you?"
Morgana nodded. "I will." She wrapped her hand around the back of Merlin's neck and gently pulled his face closer to hers. "I trust you." She whispered as their lips met.
Merlin kissed the dying woman gently, his mind flashing back to the last woman he had kissed. Freya. He had thought that she was his true love, that no one else would ever be able to match her. He was wrong. She seemed like nothing compared to how he now felt with Morgana. How he had always felt with Morgana.
Merlin rested his forehead on Morgana's as she began to speak the spell. To any passerby, it would appear that she was speaking in some foreign tongue, but Merlin could understand her as easily as though she were speaking English.
"Emrys, son of magic, combines powers with I to create unbreakable magic. We offer our power in its entirety to enable the bodies and minds of all those imperative to the great King Arthur's life to rise again as he does. As there is the Once and Future King, we curse those from this life to be his Once and Future comrades. To do this, I sacrifice all that I am, and Emrys adds his power, allowing us to pierce the fabric of magic and time."
Merlin felt a burning heat in the palm of his hand, as did Morgana. Their eyes flashed gold in unison, but other than that Merlin could not sense any difference in the world. And then, as he smiled at Morgana, he watched her eyes change back to green, and then fade to grey until there was no life left in them at all.
"Morgana." Merlin whispered, lifting her head, but it lolled back, her eyes staring blankly up at him, the only man she had ever truly loved. "No, Morgana!" Merlin shook her and begged her to come back to him. He tried to use his magic to bring her back, but he discovered he didn't have any power to bring her back with. Merlin stood up, scooping the beautiful woman with raven black hair up in his arms, and screamed. He screamed for the best friend whom he had lost, the King who could have changed the world. He screamed for the Queen, who no longer had her husband. He screamed for the woman whom he had lost all hope in, the woman who had come back to him and died in an attempt to give assistance to her brother. He screamed at fate, who had chosen a tragic path for all of them. Then, when his voice was hoarse and his throat was worn raw, he carried Morgana back to the lake where only hours ago he had set Arthur free, and he fashioned another boat. As with Arthur's funeral barge, Merlin could not bring himself to light it, so he simply lay Morgana down on the wooden raft, kissed her now-cold forehead, and pushed her out into the lake of Avalon to join her brother.
Merlin sat on the bank for many hours after that, watching Morgana's raft slowly float farther away from him.
He prayed that the spell in which Morgana had sacrificed herself would work. He prayed that one day he would meet both her and Arthur again.
Hope you liked it! Let me know what you think!