Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to BBC.

A/N: Thank you guys for the reviews! And the Follows and Favorites too!

I'm uploading faster than I said I would because I'm procrastinating my article… I have so many ideas for this fic that I just couldn't stop it I had to write!

Now answers to the reviews:

To larasmith: this chapter answer things about Morgana's intention and Arthur's, Merlin's and Gwen's destiny. Next chapter will be have super fluff Arwen moments, I hope to don't take too long to post it.

To Joshua: thank you, comments like that are always welcomed.

To Stacy: Thank you again, I hope I'm doing her character's justice.

To Guest: please, keep reading it, I'm sure that the next chapters will answer all those questions.

Chapter 4

At Camelot

Morgause waited for the guards to pass her, where she stood, hidden from their sight, and followed swiftly toward her sister's chambers. Indeed, it was a risky maneuver, but due to recent news, it was probably harder for Morgana to sneak off during the night, considering she was now Uther's remaining child. Knowing that this encounter would be long, as they would plan which ways would be used in order to snatch Camelot's throne, she couldn't afford any sort of suspicion to befall over Morgana. No, they would meet in the very castle that would soon be the home of a magical sovereign, instead of a mad, bloodthirsty, kin killer one. Therefore, she hurried her steps, reaching her destination in mere seconds, giving the door three brief knocks, in order to signalize her identity to her sister. Morgana opened the door almost immediately, rushing Morgause inside and checking the corridor to see if anyone noticed the blonde presence. Once she was certain nobody sighted her sister, the younger woman closed the door and hugged her sibling.

"Morgause!"

"Sister! I came as soon as I could. In the note, you said you had excellent news, are they the expected ones? Has Uther finally admitted your parentage?" The older woman asked.

"Yes. And there's more. Until the end of the week, I'll already be the Crown Princess of Camelot. Sole heir to the throne." Morgana replied, smirking.

"That's marvelous! The remaining obstacle between you and your throne will only be Uther himself! As predicted, he wouldn't leave his kingdom without a legitimate heir. Now, we just need to plan his demise!" Her sister exclaimed.

"Yes! The sooner, the better! I'm tired of pretending to be his lovely ward, now daughter, when all I feel towards him is hate! He must die at once! Camelot needs to be freed of his terror reign!" Morgana said, gritting her teeth.

"Have patience, sister. It is not only Uther that avoids the restoration of magic. For twenty-five years, the common folk has been taught to fear it, despise it, hunt it and harm anyone that has the gift. Even before the purge, many had prejudice against magic. Don't you think it's strange that five kingdoms have abolished it, even though only the King of Camelot had an apparent reason to claim that magic was evil?" seeing her sister's obviously distressed and impatient expression, Morgause continued "The answer to that question, Morgana, is that magic, due to its dark practitioners, has attained a bad image. It has been feared for a long time, prior to Uther's unjust crusade." The dark-haired woman was furrowing her eyebrows and frowning, almost arguing against her sister's affirmation, but decided to remain silent. So, Morgause kept talking:

"Morgana, fate gave us an unique opportunity! You became Uther's heir without the necessity of using magic, or have its usage known. That's the path the Goddess is showing us! Can't you see? We will restore magic and the Old Religion to their rightful place, but avoiding a negative view of magic in this process. Quite the opposite, when you become Queen, your reign will exhibit, majorly, the benefits of the gift, its utilization will strengthen the image of magic as something good, that can help people, save them, instead of bringing misery and despair. If we proceed in such manners, even if Arthur comes back to reclaim the throne, he won't have support, from neither the people nor nobility. You'll be everyone's savior, the beloved Queen, the representation of the Goddess herself, watching over them, protecting them, keeping them fed and safe."

"Morgause … I'm not sure about the part that everybody will accept magic back with arms wide open … you said it yourself, people fear it, even before Uther, and the most of the nobility share Uther's view." The younger woman spoke, raising her brows, as if questioning her elder reasoning.

"That's why I said we are going to keep the usage of magic a secret for a while. Uther's demise won't be immediate, before his fall, we must get rid of his supporters. All the nobles that truly agree with him shall lose their position or be convinced of our standpoint, not necessarily by non-invasive ways." The blonde-haired woman answered, while smiling in a devilish way.

"So … how are we going to do this? And what about Uther? How long do we have to wait for his death?" Morgana asked.

"All in its due time, sister." Morgause replied, placing her hand on her sibling cheek and tenderly caressing her. Then, she added: "Next week you'll have access to Camelot's vault. You'll be the keeper of its key. I'm sure that there are many magical artifacts that will prove useful. You've been here for longer, you must know of one that can be used to hide one's true identity, right?"

"Yes, I remember of one, that is a new acquaintance. Blood crystals, I think that's the name." Morgana said.

"Blood crystals? Sister, that's excellent! A single drop of blood from the subject and one can take her or his frame, clothing and voice! That's the perfect disguise! You must bring them to me, as soon as possible!" Morgause told her.

"Right, I'll do it when I gain access to the vaults. But what do we do about Uther?" Morgana was getting eager for a definitive response from her sister.

"As I told you, his death cannot be caused by magic, at least that's what everyone must believe. With the blood crystal we can even make something better than that. We won't leave traces that we will be the ones provoking his final days on this earth. And that must happen by "non-magical" means." The blond-haired woman told her.

"Hum … and I think we have the perfect opportunity just ahead of us. In one and a half month from now, a tournament will take place in Camelot. One without rules, so the knight code is invalid to the competitors, and its entrance is open, anyone can participate, well, as long as they pay the fee." Morgana said. Morgause grabbed her face with her hands and placed a kiss in her forehead, speaking:

"Sister, you're absolutely right! That's a great chance, we cannot miss it! Didn't I tell you, the Goddess is giving us, Her loyal followers, the means to fulfill Her wishes! We just have to incite a competitor dumb enough to kill the King during the tournament! Oh, and you have to convince him to fight!"

"Consider it done, sister." The dark-haired woman replied.

"Good, I knew I could count on you." Morgause said. "Now, I must hurry and flee this place before my presence is noticed." And then kissed Morgana on her left cheek.

"See you soon, sister. I'll check if it's safe to roam through the corridors." The younger woman opened the door, searching for any sentinels, founding none. She mentally told herself that improving the castle security should be a top priority in her reign. Nodding to Morgause, the blonde left the chambers, disappearing from sight in silent steps in few instants. Tired from the events of the day, Morgana went to her bed. Sleep caught her not much time after that. She had a dreamless night, thankful to her sister's amulet, the one that belonged to their mother.

In a road, towards southwest.

They were going to a port. That was all Merlin knew. A tiny bit of information that he could gather from Arthur's incessant grumble. Why was his friend such a prat? Why couldn't he just answer a simple question, like normal people would? But no, no. He had to make everything harder for him, and include Gwen in his humorless jokes. Damn Pendragons and their twisted sense of humor, as if making others suffer constantly was a funny thing. Well, it was, as long as he wasn't the reason they were laughing or else it included a painful or humiliating or another dreadful thing that he had to suffer. And those weren't the reasons he was distressed. No, he knew that Morgana was plotting something, he just wasn't sure of what was it. And Prince Prat wasn't giving a clue about "the other thing" that came with the clot pole's box. For all he knew, by this same time tomorrow, they could all be dead, killed by a mysterious magical thingy sent by the heartless witch to eliminate her brother, her former best friend and himself. He had to try again, so he said:

"Arthur, where are we going? Please, answer me, is not just curiosity, I must be sure that wherever we're going, I'll be able to send notice to my mother. During our last days in Camelot, I barely had time to breath, so I didn't write her anything about our situation." Merlin played the emotional card against his friend, letting his tiredness show in his voice.

"I already told you, Merlin, we're going to a port city, called Caer Didi, in Gawant." The blonde answered.

"Yes, but will we stay there for a while? Or will we go somewhere else? From what I understand, we can take a ship to anywhere from there, right?." Merlin questioned him.

"Really, Merlin, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have guessed!" The former prince said, with sarcasm.

"Hey, I'm her only son, I have to tell her at least a place to send her letters to. And explain where we are going too." Merlin decided to give a short answer, he was nervous, he didn't like that they could be going somewhere really far away from Camelot and their destinies. He knew that bad things happened when they tried to run away from it. Gwen, always the good soul, spared him from an anxious await, answering:

"We're taking a boat. We're travelling to Gallia, Merlin, but we can't answer precisely where. When we get there, we'll figure out." She said, elbowing his arm lightly. "It's our own adventure! Without time to return, nor rules". She completed.

Oh, no! Morgana was sending them to another country, with an entire ocean and a pack of Saxons between them and Camelot! That little evil witch! He had to convince them not to go, otherwise the kingdom would be completely defenseless against Morgana's wickedness! He told himself not to panic, to remains calm and make them see reason, that something could happen to Uther – well, it's going to happen, his death is imminent now – and then Camelot could need his rightful king. Yep, he was using the duty card, as much as he hated it.

"But, Gwen, Arthur, that's too far away from Camelot! What if something happens to your father?" at that phrase, Arthur glared at him, Merlin thought that if it were Morgana, he would be burning right now. He decided to ignore it and continued: "I mean your people will need you! You can't just leave them, ruled by their own luck!" he exclaimed.

"Merlin, stop. If anything happens, they will still have Morgana. She's almost royalty too, she's like a sister to me, I'm sure she'll manage while we are gone." Arthur said. Merlin though how ironic his answer was, he was indeed right, if only he did know the truth.

"But it's not the same thing, she could only be a regent. And she is a woman – no offense, Gwen – it's harder for the other nobles to accept her. And there's more, the other kingdoms might think that Camelot is weak without his Prince and attack, especially Essetir. Uther got sick for five days and they were already invading!" he tried to make his prat friend agree.

"Enough, Merlin! My whole life people have been telling me what to do. For the first time ever I can decide what I truly want, I don't have to live to fulfill other's expectations. Can you understand that? I'm finally free! I can chase my heart's desire! I don't think that I'm being unreasonable to do so. I won't do it forever, eventually we're going back home, but until then, I want to enjoy my life, have adventures, travel to different places, without a definite amount of time to return." The blonde man replied.

"But, Arthur, what about the people …" He keep trying.

"I already told you, they have Morgana. She would never let any kind of harm befall over Camelot. You can rest assured. Seriously, what do you expect, that we come back to find the kingdom on fire?" He joked.

Merlin decided he couldn't convince his friend. Even Gwen was on the prat's side, she was smiling and agreeing with the nonsense that came from his mouth. It could only be one explanation: love. It blinded people, decreased their wits, and could make a babbling idiot became some sort of prince charming in the eyes of the person in love. It was a bad thing, making him remember of lost loved ones. However, the worst was how right and wrong, at the same time, Arthur could be about Morgana. Yes, she would take care of things, but not the way that both of his friends expected. She would be the one making Camelot burn, and he would have to clean her mess and his friends' broken hearts.

He looked again to his best friends. They were so happy. Merlin frowned. He couldn't do this now, he couldn't ruin such precious, and possibly rare in the near future, moment with his worries about destiny and fate. No, he would let them enjoy their love, their escape from duty for a while. He would follow them to Gallia and protect them. They would eventually return and face the consequences. Nonetheless, he, Arthur and Gwen had something that Morgana didn't, they had fate by their side, they would succeed and Arthur would be the Once and Future King, restore magic and unite all of Albion.

A/N: Next, the events of episode 3x11 without our beloved Merlin! And Arthur's and Gwen's marriage. Also, other revelations!