Title: A Better Future
Rating: T (possible M as story progresses)
Pairings: Merlin/Morgana, implied A/G, implied G/L (possible others as story progresses)
Warnings: Divergence-AU, Language, Mild Violence, Sexual Tension and possible resolutions for any Sexual Tension that may crop up, unedited
Disclaimer: Some of the dialogue in this chapter is lifted (and/or rephrased) directly from the show itself. I definitely take no credit for the dialogue, or the show itself.

Morgana stood before her mirror admiring herself. The banquet with Lady Helen was tonight and she already knew what she was going to wear because she knew that she would appear to give in and show up to Uther's little display. Of course no one had to know the real reason she had given in and agreed to go. She would get to see Merlin again. She wanted to study him and be able to see him use his magic to save Arthur when she wasn't the threat that Arthur needed saving from. She gave her mirror an ironic smile. Footsteps could be heard at the door at her back, so she tossed her hair over her shoulders and strolled toward her dressing screen.

"As I was saying about Arthur earlier, I wouldn't touch him with a lance pole." As she spoke she slid the blue satin down her shoulders, enjoying the soft whisper of material gliding against her flesh. It was one of her weaknesses, fine material sliding over her body. "Pass me that dress would you Gwen? I mean the man's a total jouster. Just because I'm the kings ward doesn't mean I have to accompany him to the feast."

This dress was also made of satin, a purple with a gossamer layer of silky chiffon that would fall in a graceful trail as she walked. Perhaps she would wear the purple dress this time. In her future vision she had worn the red dress, but that had mostly been to antagonize Arthur. Morgana had proved to him that she was more than capable of stopping the entire room, including him, with her looks. Now however she had neither the need nor the desire to grandstand, and she certainly had no intention of being an object of desire for the man she now knew to be her brother.

"Well does it?" she asked into the silence that followed her question.

"Mm-mm," came a falsetto, and Morgana nearly lost it right there. She lowered her head to hide her grin, marveling at the fact that she had once been ignorant to the fact that Merlin was the one answering her questions. She wanted to attribute it to the fact that she had been irritated at Arthur the first time around. Certainly Arthur was enough to drive anyone to distraction. How could anyone not be distracted when they were battling the impulse to wring the young prince's neck? Still, Merlin was horrible at pretending to be a girl.

"You know what? I can't stop thinking about him. Not Arthur I mean. That boy has used up his day's allotment of annoyance filled thoughts, and I can't be bothered more on the matter. It's him, the man in my dreams, Gwen. I never see his face, but his eyes are so… They flash gold."

She could feel his silent shock even from where she was standing. She tamped down the urge to peek over the screen to look at his face. She was sure it would be entertaining, but it would also be counter productive to her plans. Morgana spoke her next words in a faltering tone with nothing like her normal confidence, "Do-do you think I'm crazy for believing he actually exists?"

"Mm-mm." This time the response was immediate. She nearly purred. He wanted her to believe in a man with gold eyes.

"Where are you?" she turned her head and caught a glimpse of her cloak being hastily raised like a shield. She had to suppress the laughter bubbling in the back of her throat when she heard him say, "Here," still in his high pitched falsetto.

"I can't help but feel like he will be very important to me." He gasped at her words, and she sighed. "I know. I'm being silly. Oh, I need some help with this fastening… Gwen?"

"I'm here," Gwen's voice answered. Morgana lifted onto her toes to watch a retreating brown jacket and the tall boy that filled it from the corner of her eye. She dropped her feet to the floor and waited as her maid hurried across the room. Soon deft fingers tugged at Morgana's dress until it was closed against her back. Morgana strolled out to examine herself in the mirror once more. The red dress was still lying on the bed, waiting to be tried on. Morgana considered it for a moment.

"That one would make quite a few heads turn," Gwen had noticed where her attention had settled. "You would look stunning in it. Not that you don't always look stunning because of course you do. You could make a burlap sack look beautiful. Oh, not that you would ever wear a burlap sack! I didn't mean that! None of your clothes could ever be compared to a burlap sack. I just meant that, well, that dress would be very pretty too," Gwen trailed off embarrassed.

"I know what you meant Gwen, don't worry about it. I could wear that dress, but the simple fact of the matter is everyone's attention will be on Lady Helen tonight and I don't feel like competing with that. This dress is subtly daring, but not as overwhelming as the red. Yes, I think this will do nicely. That one can go back into the closet, please dear?"

"Yes my Lady," Gwen swept the dress up and went to set it away for the next bloodbath Uther felt the need to celebrate.

Morgana clapped her hands together. "Now back to business. I need you to do that thing you do, you know, the one where you make my hair look absolutely gorgeous. And then we'll need to select some jewelry to go with this gown."

Morgana swept into the hall, absently noting the turned heads and whispers that broke out at her entrance. Across the room Arthur caught sight of her and froze. She felt a surge of smugness as she noticed all of the attention. Even without the shock factor of her red dress she was more than capable of holding her own as one of, if not the most beautiful lady in the room. Yes, Morgana knew she was vain, but she didn't see it as a problem when her beauty was one of her most powerful weapons in her arsenal at court. Morgana glided through the crowd toward Arthur as she was expected to.

As she passed Gaius and the tall figure at his side she paused and then turned to step back toward the two of them.

"Gaius."

"Lady," he greeted with a bow. Morgana had been sincerely sad when she had learned of his death. Seeing him alive and well was a balm to a hurt she hadn't even realized she'd felt. Her smiled warmed as she regarded the old man fondly.

"I received the potion that you drew up for me. Thank you." She glanced up at Merlin in question.

"Ah, this is my new assistant, Merlin. Merlin, allow me to introduce you to the King's ward, the Lady Morgana."

Morgana tilted her head and allowed a look of intense concentration to spill over her face as she got her first good look at Merlin since he had arrived the other day. He was staring at her with a silly smile on his face, not even bothering to hide his admiration for her looks. She was quite familiar with the look, having seen it on so many other faces before, but she hadn't realized he had ever looked at her like that. She had only ever seen him respond to her as he had Gwen, as just a friend. The afanc that nearly cost Gwen her life, the battle in Ealdor, harboring Mordred when he was being hunted; she had never been around him much without some extenuating circumstance that had caused them to united against a shared threat and then they had become enemies. It was strange that he seemed attracted to her when she had never noticed his interest before. He had always been too focused on the danger surrounding them to act as though he were.

"Do I know you?" she asked slowly. This was not her Merlin, the one capable of killing a friend and weeping as though he were the one to suffer for it, the one whose disappointment could be shards of frozen glass cutting through your chest. She knew it logically; she had yet to fully accept emotionally that no, she really didn't know him. She felt the pain and resentment she had felt over his betrayal slip a bit farther from her grasp.

"I don't think so milady, I've only just arrived in Camelot. Why do you ask?" Merlin stared right back at her with a hopeful expression.

"It's just you seem familiar somehow. I feel like I should know you…" She tapped her finger against her lips as she pretended to think. "Are you the boy who stood up to Arthur when he was bullying poor Morris and got put in the stocks for it?"

Merlin blushed and hunched his shoulders. "You uh, heard about that did you?"

"Yes, Gwen told me all about it. I think that it was horrible of Arthur to punish you when he was the one throwing knives at an innocent boy for his own amusement. Considering that he cut his teeth on a dagger sheath, I don't think he realizes just how genuinely afraid his servant was. I'd go and tell Arthur off again, but I'm afraid he's quite become immured to my attempts to sort him out. Oh and you're helping Gaius now! That's wonderful news," she turned back to the old physician as though his words had just caught up with her. "I'm glad you're going to have someone working with you now. I do worry about you sometimes."

"Well he'll need to be trained up a bit first, but I do have high hopes for him. And thank you for thinking of me, my lady."

"You deserve any help you can get for all that you do for us."

She patted his arm and with a final smile at the two continued toward the high table. She could practical feel Merlin's look of puppy love sinking into her back. She knew if a mirror was handy her face would show smug pleasure. The feeling increased when she noticed the dark expression being leveled over her shoulder at Merlin by Arthur.

This was turning out to be much more entertaining than she had expected.

"Lords of the realm avoiding that viper tongue of yours so much that you have to resort to peasants for attention?" Arthur gave a sharp smile.

She stared at him, close to him for the first time since waking up from her vision of the future. There was no mistaking this prince for the king he would become. The king had wide shoulders with muscles hardened by wars that this young boy couldn't even begin to imagine. Arthur's hair was short as she remembered, not the chin length hair that was kept swept back by his ever present crown. His face wasn't sculpted into hard planes or lined with worries. His face was not marred by the jagged line of the scar that lined his chin. She had placed that scar upon there herself, and it was strange to see it missing now. Still of all his changes to her the difference that marked this boy from the king who would become her enemy was his eyes. This Arthur could still smile. He didn't look at her with bitterness or hate, only the competitive affection they had shared throughout their childhood together.

When she didn't respond immediately Arthur grinned at her, "You're staring at me. Struck speechless by my rugged good looks are you? Really it's okay Morgana, I get that a lot."

Morgana bristled at his tone, her moment of painful contemplation broken by a familiar surge of irritation.

"I was contemplating telling you that you have something unfortunate on your face." Arthur frowned, one hand lifting unconsciously (she was not the only vain one in the family) before she allowed herself to finish her statement with, "Then I realized that it was your face that I was staring at. Really it's okay Arthur, I'm sure you get that a lot."

Arthur eyes narrowed as he gave a soft hiss of annoyance. She felt somewhat appeased by her victory so she didn't bother with a follow up comment that would lead to an argument, however fun those could be.

"What were you talking to him about anyway?" he returned to the original subject with a tight voice.

"Hm, oh the boy over there? I was merely welcoming Gaius's new assistant to Camelot. Why? Don't you think Gaius deserves the help?" She raised her brows in question, but her lips were tugging in a secret smile. This was not a smile of simple joy, but the sly kind that says 'I know something you don't know'. It was something that she had figured out as a child; that if you smiled in a knowing way that was enough to make people worry even if you didn't really know anything. The difference was that now she really did know something and Arthur was right to be nervous. Her smile widened as he fidgeted beneath her perceptive gaze.

He opened his mouth to speak and a trumpeting blare echoed off walls. She glanced over her shoulder toward the guards on either side of the doors lowering the horns from their lips to assure herself the noise didn't come from Arthur's lips even though logically she knew better. The room collectively turned toward the sound, at the king making his entrance. Arthur shot her an annoyed look as they separated to take their places at the high table and waited for Uther to announce the Lady Helen of Mora. She tuned his speech out. Morgana made herself clap along with the rest of the crowd when they started because that was what was expected. A beautiful woman in a golden gown with pale blue accents of material began to sing in a mellifluous voice.

Lady Helen stepped off the platform where she was displayed and walked down the row between the tables. As her melodic song flowed through the room the lights began to dim, and heads nod. Soon people were slumping over their plates, and cobwebs slowly began to form. Morgana was terribly tempted not to let her self fall under the spell but unlike lucky people who were standing in stairwells, the cobwebs were going to extend across the table where she sat. If she were completely awake when that happened she would just get webs in her eyes. With a mental grumble at the thought of having to put up with this, she allowed herself to relax under the other woman's spell. It wasn't even a very powerful spell either. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes instead concentrating on taking deep breaths and relaxing her muscles.

Crash!

Morgana jerked out of her trance and ripped the webs off her face with a grimace. The falling chandelier had been enough to break the spell. Really such theatrics were completely unnecessary. No wonder no one was ever able to kill Arthur. Even if he hadn't had Merlin protecting him they were all determined to make flashy productions or needlessly complicated plots out of their attempts. They expended a great deal of magical power maintaining their illusions which they could be applying toward their attack power. Without Morgause getting in the way and insisting on plans to stick to Morgana had taken control of their army. Her own plan had been a pretty straightforward, "Go kill them."

There was a reason she was the only one who had ever posed a true threat to Camelot.

A wrinkled old hag in a golden dress with blue accents raised herself onto her elbows to fling a dagger at Arthur. Morgana closed her eyes and watched events as they would unfold in a vision. Messing with time as Merlin did, no one would be able to see him move with their physical eyes, but with her power she was able to watch the future in slow motion before it even happened. His eyes turned gold as he slowed time and he rushed to Arthur's side, grabbing his shoulder. Merlin pulled Arthur out of the way of the dagger that was enchanted to fly so hard that it ended up embedded to the hilt of the chair that had been impaled in place of the prince. She opened her eyes to witness Uther thanking Merlin for having saved his son's life and declaring him to be the new manservant of the Prince Arthur.

"Father!" Arthur protested.

Morgana knocked on the heavy wooden door and waited until the old physician cracked it open. He smiled when he saw her and she returned it with one of her own.

"Gaius, I just wanted to speak with your assistant for a moment. Is that ok?"

"Merlin? Of course, but why?" he asked mystified.

"To apologize," she answered wryly.

"To apologize?" Gaius seemed bemused, but he didn't bother to ask for clarification on the matter. He simply pointed toward the door at the top of the stairs. "Yes, he's in there."

Thanking him she made her way up the stairs and paused in front of the door for a moment to smooth her dress before raising her hand to knock.

"Come in," Merlin's voice floated through the wood. Her fingers found the latch on the door and poked her head through the small opening she created. Merlin was sitting with one elbow propped against the table and his head leaning on his hand. The rest of his body was slumped against the wall to his side and he was staring at the dancing flame of the candle sitting before him. She slipped into the room, leaving the door open behind her for propriety's sake, and cleared her throat. He glanced up and jerked to his feet when he saw her standing there.

"Lady Morgana!" he spoke with a horrified expression. Hm, that not the most flattering reaction. She took in the small cot that passed for a bed and the fact that the only window his room had was set up so high that you had to climb up to get to it. Then she noticed the way his eyes were darting around at the clothes scattered around the room, and the blush that started over his high cheekbones and worked its way down toward his throat. How cute. She made a show of inspecting his messy quarters and quite enjoyed his scramble to scoop the mess up off his floor. He opened the cupboard and slammed it all inside before turning around to face her, back pressed against the door as if afraid everything would tumble out if he were to move away. This would likely be the case if he had owned more than a couple of outfits total.

"I wasn't expecting- I'm sorry about- I, um… What are you doing here?" His eyes were huge and very, very blue.

"Merlin, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," he was starting to regain his composure now that the shock of her presence was wearing off. "Sooo, why are you here?"

She stepped toward him, "I came to thank you."

"Thank me?" his voice rose as she stepped even closer. She tilted her head back so she could look him in the eyes.

"To thank you," she repeated, "for saving Arthur. And I also wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" a clueless grin kicked up one corner of the warlock's mouth. How could anyone so powerful manage to be so genuinely oblivious?

"Yes. I know Arthur's a bit of an arrogant jerk at times, as I'm sure you've seen. Being promoted to his manservant is not nearly the honor that Uther believes seeing as you don't seem to get along very well. You know he will never even consider saying thank you for what you did. So I am."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Oh no, no it was nothing. I mean, I just reacted. Anyone would have done the same."

"I'm not so sure. I know that you guys didn't meet on the best of terms, but that just made the fact that you did save him all the more impressive. You really are different aren't you?"

Merlin stared at her. She stepped back and turned away. When she reached the door, she gave him one parting glance over her shoulder before making her way down the stairs. Gaius was at the bottom with a package wrapped in silky red material, obviously waiting to present it to Merlin. He was giving her a knowing look and she paused to stare at him in confusion. Then she realized what he must think of her strange behavior. Oh no. Gaius thought she was interested in Merlin. Her? Romantically interested in Merlin? She opened her mouth to disabuse him of the notion, but then closed it. What could she say? 'Oh don't worry Gaius. I have no designs on your ward's virtue. I'm really just planning on using him to avert a magical Armageddon that I could be responsible for without him is all.'

Letting people think her to be sweet on the boy would be so much easier than telling the truth. She gave the old man a weak smile and edged past him. She pointedly ignored the indulgent look on his face, and the fact that Merlin had stuck his head out the door of his room and was watching her walk away. It was a good thing her hair was down as she could feel her neck and ears burning. She smoothed her hands down her dress, and made her way across the room as quickly as possible without running. Damn it, had her hips always swished so much when she walked?

End Notes: I really wanted a deeper interaction between... well everyone really but I especially need to figure out Arthur. I adore his character but I find him terribly difficult to write for some reason. Sorry about that. Plus side is now that introductions are out of the way, the next chapter or so will start on the actual plot line of the story. Hopefully, you'll stay with me that long.