DISCLAIMER: I wish I were part of the BBC Merlin film writers. Imagine all the possibilities! Though you probably won't.

Many, million thanks to my dear reviewers in the last chapter! Sorry for the late reply to your reviews, exams are next week you see. And as you can see, once more I really shouldn't be spending time here.

In address to many of your expressed frustrations about the delayed climatic 'REVEAL'... while I can promise very very soon relief to them, I've left a note below responding to that.

Thank you so much, and now hope you enjoy! :P

Chapter 14:

It was this strange development of things that kept Merlin pondering as he sat staring into the crackling fire in the physician's chambers. Gaius was still absent, though the disarray of potion ingredients on the bench table suggested that he had been working on quite a number of calming and sleeping droughts. Merlin wasn't the least surprised; it had certainly happened frequently enough in his universe. Apparently high-born ladies had little tolerance for drama.

Seizing the rare opportunity of having the chambers to himself, Merlin drew his chair nearer to the fireplace until he could feel its heat prickling against his skin. Then he raised a hand over the fire, and his eyes flashed gold. In response to his whisper, a small fiery dragon grew out of the sparks to hover above the dancing flames. Merlin allowed himself a small grin at the sight. It was the first spell he'd ever shown Arthur.

For a long moment he simply stared at the creature, making it flap its fiery wings and turn circles round and round the chamber as he sorted through his thoughts. It was slow going getting it to leave the warmth of the fireplace, but he soon managed it.

His thoughts soon turned back to Arthur, however, and after analyzing the unexpected gesture of gratitude from the prince for the fifth time that night, Merlin unwillingly conceded that perhaps, he may have been too presumptuous. It was just as Jacquers said: he was an outsider. He knew virtually nothing about the Arthur of this universe, but he was operating under the deluded impression that the friend he'd had and this Arthur were the same when they weren't.

He'd thought that he had jumped into the timeline of an alternate universe where everything before that had played out exactly like it had in his own. Now he was coming to realize that it wasn't the case.

There were subtle differences he was beginning to note. Jacquers for one had claimed to be Arthur's servant for the past five years, but as far as Merlin was concerned, he had never seen the boy in his universe. In fact, many of the castle staff were different people from who he had been used to. Even though he'd met quite a few familiar faces, Merlin had later discovered that they were assigned other positions in the castle.

Which meant, both universes weren't entirely parallel even before he'd stepped in – and it was quite possible that the Arthur of this universe had a very different upbringing, hence the huge change in character.

But still, a polite Arthur in any sort of universe was a hard image to conjure. Assuming the prince had been, in reality, thanking Merlin for thwarting Nimueh's plans, that is. If Arthur had really been thanking him for filling Morgana's cup during the banquet, then Merlin was going to mark down a point under Arthur's mental health.

Merlin leaned back in his chair and sighed. It was just that the prince had been behaving in a way Merlin was familiar with… and just sometimes, it was harder to forget than it was to remember. And during these occasions the reminder of everything he'd lost would rise up to haunt him, and just sometimes, seeing the prince only made the abyss in his chest widen.

As it was a quite understandably deep and depressing thought Merlin had fallen into, the young warlock was so engrossed in them that he did not hear rapid footsteps clacking down the corridor towards the physician's chambers. Even the little fire-dragon continued prancing around in mid-air, completely oblivious of the potential danger heading their way. It wasn't only when the door was flung open abruptly with a bang when Merlin realized in horror what he was doing, jumped a mile into the air, and promptly sent the chair flying backwards. His little fire-dragon fell out of the air to disappear in a poof of smoke as it landed on Gaius' nightclothes.

"The fire needed tending!" Merlin exclaimed loudly in an attempt to cover-up his slip, snatching up the poker as he did so. Quite unfortunately the fire refused to be co-operative. Its merry crackle suddenly seemed obnoxiously loud in the stillness of the night.

Perhaps because his dragon had disappeared a second too late, there was no reply from Gaius. Merlin turned around slowly, steeling himself for his mentor's 'eyebrow' expression, but stopped immediately at the unexpected figure standing in the doorway.

"Morgana!" Merlin yelped with ill-disguised shock, before he hastily corrected himself. "I mean - my lady."

Morgana had yet to enter; she was still standing before the threshold. On the contrary she didn't seem to notice Merlin's greeting at all; she looked as if she were at a loss as to what to do with herself. Gwen was nowhere in sight. The sound of Merlin's voice however seemed to jerk her to her senses, and she walked into the dimly lit room, nervously wringing her hands as she did. She closed the door behind her mutely and came to a halt before Gaius' empty workbench. Merlin fidgeted slightly; he was still trying to catch back his heartbeat after it nearly flew out of his ribcage a moment ago.

"Gaius," Merlin began, trying not to think of the mini fire-dragon and hoping it hadn't burnt a hole in Gaius' clothes. "He – um - he isn't around, as you can see. My lady. I think he's out. Is there anything I…" Merlin broke off. Morgana had raised her head to look at him, and quite abruptly her sea-green irises clashed with his own in all agonizing familiarity; fearful, uncertain and desperate.

Oh. Oh, oh no.

Merlin felt his heart sink. He had a feeling he knew what was about to come. In fact, he'd been thinking about it all the weeks he'd been here, but – much like Arthur – he still had no idea whatsoever as to what he was supposed to do with her. He was afraid that him trying to change Morgana's destiny would end up with him leading her to it once more, but at the same time he was more than tempted to give it one last try.

Merlin had yet to reach a decision in that particular moment, and in short – was at a complete loss.

This time round however, Morgana needed no prompting. She took a step closer to Merlin and began to speak.

"I had another dream," she said shakily. She paused slightly at the uncertain look on Merlin's face but continued before he could say anything. "I swear, I know it's going to happen, I can feel it! It always does – and I…I didn't know who else to talk to."

Merlin struggled to maintain a perfectly balanced neutral expression. "What was it about?" he asked instead, a little curiousity surfacing to his thoughts despite everything.

Morgana looked away into the embers of the fire. It was as if she was afraid to see the disbelief in Merlin's eyes, and at the comprehension of that gesture a guilty pang stabbed him in his heart, not unlike the first time.

"There was a beast," Morgana said haltingly, her eyes shadowed and haunted. "It was nothing like I've ever seen. A monster. It came out of the woods and attacked the knights."

Ah. A beast. Merlin was almost tempted to say, "It wouldn't happen to be a Griffin would it?" but thought better of it.

"Arthur was standing in the centre," Morgana continued fearfully. She was too consumed by her fears to notice Merlin's lack of concern for the situation. "He was yelling for somebody to do something, but then it was too late. The beast advanced on them and – " She paused, looking up into Merlin's eyes, imploring and desperate, "Merlin, I saw it cut down Arthur!"

Yes. And Lancelot made such a timely appearance too.

Merlin's brow furrowed as he tried to summon a more suitable response. Her vision fit the events Merlin had been through before, so he wasn't unduly worried. In fact, for the first time he wasn't so much as concerned about Arthur than he was of Morgana's growing fear and confusion at her own abilities. Which made things worse, because Morgana was clearly expecting him to be either horrified at her vision or disbelieve her completely, and Merlin was ill-disposed towards both courses of action.

Thankfully, Merlin's internal struggle was ceased abruptly when they were interrupted by the door.

"I think that's quite enough," a familiar voice said suddenly. Merlin whirled around to see Gaius walking into the chambers, holding an almost empty basket in his hand. His tone was not unkind but it was stern all the same. He approached Morgana wordlessly and handed her a vial.

"I thought you might need it, but the guards told me you weren't in your chambers," he said by way of explanation.

Morgana took it, but it was clear that her anxiety wasn't reassured. "But Gaius," she began, but once again the physician interrupted her.

"There is no use dwelling on nightmares, Morgana," he said wearily, looking her in the eye as he did. "It will only do you more harm in the long run. I'm sure we were all tired out by today's events. Let it stay as a dream and nothing more." He rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, and for a moment Morgana fell silent at that. When she had calmed down considerably, Gaius fished a small poultice out of the clutter of his workbench and handed it to Morgana.

"It's a mix of herbs from Mercia," he told her. "It gives off a sweet aroma, perhaps it may help you relax."

Morgana stared at the poultice for a moment. There was a slight relief in her eyes, but purely because he knew what to look for, Merlin could read the mix of disappointment in her gesture. She forced a smile to her lips and took the herbs from Gaius, clenching it in the same hand as the one holding the vial containing the sleeping draught.

"Thank you Gaius," she said. Her voice seemed unbearably small.

She swallowed and turned to leave, her hands going to her eyes; but at the last moment Merlin abruptly made up his mind.

"I'll walk you back," he offered suddenly, springing up from his position against the table.

Immediately he could feel Gaius' gaze follow him as he did.

"Merlin – are you sure you're up to it?" the physician began in a slightly worried tone. Merlin abruptly realized that Gaius hadn't seen him ever since he'd been controlled by Nimueh and arrested by Sir Rynelf hours ago. The same thought apparently occurred to Morgana because she turned back and opened her mouth as if to say 'it's fine', but Merlin took the decision out of their hands by going straight to the door and opening it for her.

"It'll be quick," Merlin called over his shoulder.

"Merlin," Gaius said again, causing Merlin to pause slightly. He turned back to see the physician purse his lips before sighing.

"Be careful not to hit anything," he called after his ward. "Or you'll be walking around Camelot with a black and blue face for longer than a week."

At Gaius' words Merlin automatically raised a hand to his cheek, and he was suddenly sorely reminded of his face-first encounters with armour twice now that day. He grimaced and felt a twinge of pain at the action.

"Will do," he said a tad weakly. "Thanks Gaius."

…

"It's fine Merlin, really," Morgana said the moment the door closed behind them. "I can manage it back by myself."

The torches hanging on the wall were burning low, indicating that the night was getting quite late. Even the dim flickering shadows thrown against the stone-cobbled floor were faint and had blurry edges. Merlin couldn't make out Morgana's eyes clearly, but the slight tremor in her voice betrayed her.

In response Merlin only shook his head mutely. His heartrate had accelerated to an abnormally fast rhythm. This was his chance to change things; to do what he would have done if only he had chosen to ignore a preconceived destiny. He could only pray that fate wouldn't twist his words and intentions back upon him in the end.

"No, it's fine. I wanted to say… I believe you," Merlin started abruptly before he could change his mind. He looked up to meet her eyes, where Morgana had stopped in her tracks. "What you said just now, about you having visions and dreams that come true. I believe people like these, like you, exist."

He stopped. He couldn't see her expression due to the darkness in the hall, but Merlin gathered it wasn't a very good start. After all, he'd essentially just informed her that he believed in her existence.

"It's… a very useful skill to have," Merlin felt compelled to add, to show that he didn't mean anything negative by it.

The silence which followed seemed to stretch for infinite minutes, though in reality it had only been little more than a few seconds. Merlin wasn't sure what to expect. He had wanted to say these to her the first time round, but he never had the courage to. But then Morgana spoke, and even though he hardly should be, he was still surprised when her voice was filled with warmth and something that sounded like immense relief.

"Thank you, Merlin," she said softly. He could see her expression this time: a genuine smile, genuine and beautiful like the person she always used to be. "Before you, hardly anyone else understood, except Arthur."

Merlin stopped.

Except who?!

She paused, not noticing when Merlin's smile suddenly froze in place. A slight frown coloured her voice. "I would have told him, but he – " Here she trailed off and shook her head before continuing as if she never broached the topic. "I can see what Gwen meant. You're a good friend, Merlin."

Morgana offered him a smile and turned back to resume walking, oblivious to the fact that Merlin was still standing rooted at the same spot and wasn't following. He was trapped in a state of utter disbelief. It wasn't until when Morgana made to round a corner when Merlin hurriedly lengthened his strides to catch up.

"Arthur?" Merlin blurted after a long silence. Despite his best efforts he couldn't make it sound unlike an aspersion. "Prince Arthur understands?"

What was Arthur in this universe? Some kind of saint?!

Morgana's smile widened at his perplexed expression and she nodded gently. "I trust the secret is safe with you?" she said.

Merlin only blinked uncomprehendingly. All his vocabulary had deserted him. Morgana however seemed to take his clueless expression as an affirmation.

"Arthur's one too, just like I am," she said in a low tone. Her eyes trailed up and down the silent corridor, checking for any passing guards; and when there were none, she turned to Merlin, whose wide eyes were watching her with utter incredulousness.

"He's a Seer," she offered quietly. "Just like me."

-X-

...

Gaius' eyes followed Merlin's figure as the boy paced up and down the length of the physician's chambers. His footsteps were slow and precise, making a rhythmic clack – clack sound as he went.

"Prince Arthur enjoys opera," Merlin declared solemnly. Each clack of his footsteps seemed to accentuate each point he made down the list. "Prince Arthur likes grapes. Prince Arthur is delightfully polite and displays gratitude towards servants." He stopped. "Prince Arthur is a Seer."

The last word was heavily emphasized with over-precise pronunciation. Gaius looked up wearily. It looked like Merlin was beginning to lose it.

"Merlin…"

"That is not Arthur. There is no way that is Prince Arthur."

A pause.

"All this while, it's been an impersonator!"

Gaius sighed long-sufferingly. "Merlin, sit down – "

Merlin was already too worked up to oblige. "Consider it, Gaius! Why else would he lie and say that he's a Seer too? He recognized the power in Morgana Gaius. Maybe he wants to win her trust or for some… nefarious purpose." Merlin spun sharply on his heel away from the door where his pacing had led him and turned to walk back towards the physician. He leaned his hands against the table and looked at his mentor seriously. "We have to find the real Prince Arthur and arrest this impersonator."

Gaius eyed his ward with barely disguised impatience. "I seriously think I should have had your mental state checked after Nimueh attempted to control you," he said.

"Gaius, there is no way that the real Arthur is a Seer, and you know it!" Merlin said empathetically at Gaius' refusal to accept his theory. "Besides Arthur has been acting strangely the whole time he was here."

"Like what?" Gaius said with an air of abundant tolerance.

"He said he liked grapes," Merlin said immediately, and Gaius rolled his eyes and leaned back against his chair. Merlin however continued to persist. "And even before that, he said he liked opera. He's been extra polite, and nice, sometimes – it's like he has mood swings every few seconds. Just maybe, a part of him is trying to break free of the possession. Everyone's been talking about it, he's been acting different ever since he recovered from the plague!"

Gaius opened his mouth to say something, but Merlin cut him off with an enlightening 'Ah!'. And before he could even get out a single syllable, Merlin continued to plunge deeper into his conspiracy theory. "The manservant selection! Why would he think to change manservants when Jacquers had been in his service for five years?"

"I don't see what anyone has to gain from - " Gaius began, but Merlin was beyond listening.

"Because Jacquers had begun to report his strange mannerisms to you!" Merlin answered his own question in a deadpan sort of voice. "Even that day, in the tunnels, we don't know his exact purpose of being there in the first place, do we?"

Gaius was not listening to it any longer. "Merlin," the physician said sharply in his most serious tone.

"Yes" Merlin said immediately, a split second before turning around himself.

If he was hoping for any sign of encouragement from Gaius, that time had yet to arrive.

"If you don't want me to extend the bandage to cover your mouth, I suggest you forget your conspiracy theory and get some sleep," Gaius said crushingly.

Merlin immediately opened his mouth to object. He wanted to go through every hint they had, any clue to lead him on. But at the word 'sleep', his eyes invariably alighted upon the folded pile of nightclothes left on Gaius' bed, and he suddenly remembered their predicament. The last time he'd seen them they'd been, to put it lightly – radiating a little smoke, and in the recent light of his discovery he'd totally forgotten about them. He definitely did not want to be in sight when Gaius inevitably discovered the singed hole.

"Someday when these discoveries come to light, I'll be saying 'I told you so'," Merlin said at last in a huff. If Gaius wasn't going to be helpful, he would have to find his own way. He was going to put his theories to the test regardless of what his mentor thought.

He turned to move back to his room, his eyes sweeping across Gaius' nightclothes a trifle guiltily. There must have been something in his expression that gave him away though, because Gaius looked down at his bed and back at Merlin as if trying to gauge what Merlin had done wrong this time. Merlin took it as his cue to retire at once.

"Goodnight Gaius," Merlin said quickly, and he darted up the steps to his room without waiting for a response. He then slammed the door shut quickly behind him before Gaius figured out the reason behind his sudden compliance.

Tomorrow, he would make his move by himself, Merlin decided. He would find the real Arthur Pendragon and arrest the imposter.

-X-

. . .

The very next day, Arthur was rudely woken up in his chambers, at the crack of dawn, to a very strange sight.

The ungodly hour was to be expected; he'd had a hunting trip planned for the day to escape from the castle for once. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been outside the walls save a few patrol duties. They had taken the usual pre-planned routes and passed time with constant vigilance and minimal conversation, and were in other words a far cry from the fun and thrill of hunting. So yes, Arthur had been looking forwards to that day, although the hunting trip had slipped his mind after yesterday night's events.

However the first, unexpected thing that drew him out of the sleepiness fogging his senses, on a day in which he had the rare pleasure of looking forwards to, was the biting acid in his manservant's voice when the other wished him a "wonderful morning".

Arthur had cracked open an eye without further fuss at that. And promptly blinked multiple times rapidly to come to terms with the sight which met him.

Standing at the foot of his bed, and holding a silver tray containing his breakfast, was definitely not his current manservant. Instead, the younger boy was nowhere in sight, and his position had seemingly been replaced by none other than Merlin.

While Merlin's appearance had never been the most presentable, that morning he looked if possible even worse. Both Merlin's right cheek and his chin were sporting dark purple bruises: but despite the awkward bandaging on one side of his jaw, the raven-haired boy managed to maintain an eerily grim expression. Arthur sat up rapidly, confused and uneasy at the unusual routine.

"What are you doing here?" he said suspiciously. On any other day Merlin's presence might have been welcome, but the other boy was wearing a suspicious look which reeked of danger.

Merlin gently lowered the silver tray with one hand, his eyes never leaving Arthur's. "Serving your breakfast, sire," Merlin said with a very false smile.

Very visibly perturbed, Arthur dragged his gaze down to note that the tray was almost entirely obscured with a whole bunch of leafy grapes. Feeling his patience begin to wane, the prince grabbed the bunch of offending fruit off the plate. The rest of the tray was empty.

Arthur looked up in a mixture of extreme irritation and confusion to meet Merlin's gaze. The other was smiling pleasantly, as if he were challenging Arthur to make an objection. Arthur inhaled a deep breath. He was completely not in the mood to deal with Merlin's illogical antics right now.

"Where's… Jacquers?" Arthur demanded crisply, managing to remember his manservant's name just in time.

Merlin's smile remained fixed in place. "The name is Jeffrey, my lord, and he is currently unavailable," Merlin informed him smoothly. "I will be filling in his duties for the rest of today, my lord."

Arthur wasn't sure if he liked this new development of things. His mind was still cloudy and he couldn't think of a single reason why Merlin would suddenly be behaving this way. To think he'd even tried to be nice to the boy yesterday night. He eyed the enormous bunch of grapes lying on the blanket and felt his temper beginning to boil.

"Very well then," Arthur said. He grabbed the empty tray and shoved it roughly into Merlin's chest. "You can start with going back to the kitchen and getting me some decent breakfast, including meat. And then, you can go downstairs and prepare my horse and everything else I would require on a hunting trip." He gave the other boy a shark-like smile, revealing all of his teeth. "Is that clear?"

There was no way Merlin would know how to do any of those if he hadn't been a servant before, he knew. Already Arthur was half-expecting some kind of objection, but against all expectations Merlin only favored him with an unnervingly knowing look. His response was just as obedient. "Yes sire," he replied politely.

Arthur eyed him critically. The boy's behavior was beginning to disturb him.

"Well then, get out!" he snapped.

Merlin immediately dropped into a bow. Arthur's expression grew more and more scandalized as he watched his former friend drape the napkin over his lap 'for the grapes' with increasing incredulousness. Then the boy proceeded to back away in a dramatically subservient manner, never showing his back to Arthur until he disappeared out of sight quietly. The only hitch in his perfect-servant act was a slight clutter when Merlin, inevitably, tripped on the threshold by the door.

Arthur flopped back down on his bed, raising his eyes to the ceiling.

What on earth was this about now?

…

A/N: Before anyone kills me out of frustration, I swear: the Moment all of you have been waiting for is upon us! In fact it would have made it into the chapter, but that would mean it would end on a cliffhanger, and I know just how much you guys like that. (Special note to DoubleOTrouble ) So see, it's actually better this way… right? *weak grins

As usual, I would love to read your reactions XP ! Review please?

In address to poor frustrated readers:
The development of the story so far had been pre-planned before I even posted this story. I would have made the 'reveal' sooner to address many of your expressed frustrations, but I wanted to stay true to my daydream, and not miss out on the fun parts I wanted to write just for the sake of rushing the plot forwards. :P Anyway I can promise an end to your miseries soon lol.