AN: I wasn't planning on getting another one up so quick, but I was feeling SO good. I'm back in the game for Heart of Gold, which has a chapter in the works (so far, it's about 500 words that're as dark as dark can be. Is it morbid that I'm having so much fun writing so dark?), and I had a personal victory today. I got my sister to read these ficlets (a feat in itself), and she actually snickered a few times during 'Sunny.' Yes, definitely a personal victory. So, here ya go!

Prompt: "Wish Fulfillment": Write something that you wish to happen in s5. Even if you don't know me well, you can probably guess exactly what's going to happen here. ;D

Characters: Merlin and Gwen

Ratings/Warnings: Inspired by a short scene from the s5 trailer, Gwen!WHUMP

Word Count: 400

In a single heartbeat, your whole world can change.

In A Single Heartbeat

When the lock on her door rattled, Gwen, weak and trembling from her long captivity and the abuse of Morgana's enchantment, shrank away and cried out as another wave of pain—pain so powerful it felt as though her brain was using itself as a battering ram to crash through her skull—racked her.

The attack passed and left her gasping, and after she vaguely heard the familiar timbre of a wisecrack, the guffawing guards pushed a stumbling someone in. The kneeling Queen, her hair in tangles and dress tattered, hugged her chest tighter and gathered her strength as she slowly looked from under her eyelashes with blurred, teary vision…

Hope and then fear crashed down upon her, and she, shaking her head, croaked, "No, not you too."

"It'll be alright, Gwen. I'm here to get you out."

His voice was like a warm blanket, an embrace, a breath of fresh air… He shouldn't—he couldn't be here. Merlin, her selfless friend…

How'd it come to this?

Despite how nauseous she felt from the Dark magic, Gwen managed a humorless chuckle and asked desperately, "And how do you propose to do that when you've gotten yourself captured by her?"

"All part of the plan, Gwen."

He's absolutely mad. Absolutely mad.

"Gwen, there's not much time," Merlin said, his blue eyes boring into hers. "I would have waited for Arthur and the Knights, but I've only just realized how little time you have. We would've been too late. By then you would've succumbed to the curse."

Head spinning and panting, she opened her mouth, but another attack hit her. A whimper escaped her lips, and her shaking fingers wove their way into her hair as tears poured down her face...

Merlin's cool thumb pressed against her forehead, and beyond the sound of her own cries, she could only just make out the sound of him growling incomprehensibly under his breath.

The heavy weight pressing against her mind suddenly lifted, leaving her breathing easier, thinking clearer, and free… completely free.

Dazed with relief and exhilarated at her liberation, Gwen was not fully aware of what happened until she looked up to share the moment with Merlin…

Whose deep, determined eyes lingered with the gold of magic.

Her best friend, without hesitation or qualm, held out his hand. "Do you trust me?"

And after a heartbeat of awed silence, she took his hand.

AN: It's gonna happen. Just watch. ;P

Oz out.