OK. Let's do this thing. If you're just joining me now, hello! If you by any chance have sent here from the original version and have been taken on decade-long slow-burn/ will she or won't she finish this fic; I'm so sorry. Feel free to hunt me down for sport if I leave this again. Anyways-


Chapter 1: Poisoned Dream

Far from Camelot, Morgause leaned over her half sister. Morgana tossed and turned in the bed. Her skin was deathly pale and shining with sweat, soaking through the sheets. Her breathing was rough and ragged. Morgause pushed a wet lock of dark hair from Morgana's face as she stood from her bedside.

"Rest sister," She murmured, "for when you wake, we'll have work to do."

With a final look over her shoulder, Morgause opened the door and closed it softly behind her.

"How is your dear little sister?"

Morgause plastered a smile on her face. "Cenred," she said, turning to the king. "Much better, thank you for letting us take our shelter here."

"Of course she is, with such a… stunning sister to care for her." Cenred started to move closer. Morgause kept the smile on her face and resisted the urge to slap the man, instead reaching out and fingering the collar of his jacket.

"Come, sire, and allow me to tell you my plans to put you on the throne in Camelot."

"Of course. Over wine, I hope?"

Left alone to fight off the feverish after-affects of the hemlock poison, Morgana thrashed in twisting sheets, she could dimly feel them constricting her, twining around her body. Suffocating her. She had to get out, she had to escape, she couldn't breathe….her arm jerked free of its confines and the magical bracelet Morgause had given her was thrown off, clattering across the stone floor.

And, for the first time in weeks, Morgana dreamed.

She was home, back in Camelot. It had changed so much though. The whole city was turned to little more than rubble, the great stone walls, the shops, the houses were burnt and smeared with ash. She could still see smoke rising in places. What was once her home had been destroyed.

Morgana could recognize magic anywhere.

See saw a figure among the mass of stone and wood. She recognized Arthur, a crown was on his head. He was king now, although he didn't seem that much older from when she had last seen him last. Months? A few years? But as she approached him she saw his eyes were much older, as if they belonged to a man who had lived twice as long as him.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Morgana turned toward it, and her blood ran cold.

Merlin.

"You're King now." Merlin said. Not a question, just stating a fact.

"I know that." Arthur said. He sounded tired.

"You can fix this. Make things right." Arthur looked up. Slowly he nodded.

"And you'll help me?"

"Of course."

The scene shifted.

Morgana was outside below the castle steps. The rubble was still everywhere, but was no longer smoking at least. She looked up from where she stood among the crowd at Arthur, standing before them all.

"Let it be known, that I am a king for all people, their defender and champion before all else." Arthur's voice rang out, clear and calm. "As such, I can no longer enforce laws that harm the people. From this day forward, magic will be welcome in Camelot once again."

The scene shifted.

Morgana stood among the wreckage that was Camelot once more, but she saw as one by one the walls were being repaired. Sorcerers and sorceresses stood scattered everywhere, fixing the city. She saw Arthur standing with them overseeing the construction. He was talking to a sorceress. Morgana's breath caught. He was talking to her.

This Morgana was smiling, the bags under her eyes inflicted by her nightmares were gone. Morgana walked up to her, staring at what she would become. She wanted that future. She wanted that so much.

The other Morgana turned to her. Her own green eyes stared into her, boring into her. She spoke directly to her, Arthur forgotten.

"We could have had this life. But you chose our path."

Morgana could feel herself slipping away, she was getting farther and farther away, her future self was disappearing along with Camelot.

"Wait!" She cried out. But it was too late.

The scene shifted once again.

She stood on a battlefield. The corpses of soldiers and knights lay about, broken and so very, very dead. She was not alone either. Morgana saw a woman sprinting across the field, picking up her skirts as she ran. Morgana's heart leapt as she recognized her. Gwen. She watched as her former handmaid frantically looked among the dead.

Morgana had a desire to help, but had no idea who she was looking for. It dimly occurred to her that Gwen was dressed in a fine gown.

"Highness!" It was Sir Leon. "Highness we have to go, we have to get you back to Camelot."

Leon was talking… to Gwen? Morgana's eyes widened.

"I can't. Leon, we have to find him-"

"Arthur probably joined the charge to push the last of the Saxons back. We'll wait for him at the castle."

The scene shifted.

She stood at the edge of a lake. She moved towards the two figures on the bank. One was holding the other, bent in grief. Merlin, she realized, and the other- the dead body Arthur Pendragon.

"Oh no. No."

She ran the rest of the way and crouched next to Merlin. He was crying, she realized. And, in spite of how she felt about her would-be murderer, her own heart couldn't help but reach out to him seeing the lifeless body of the man she had known as a brother.

The other Morgana appeared in front of her.

"Why are you showing me this? I don't want this!" she cried.

"But we did want this. We led the Saxons, and we gave Mordred the sword forged in a dragon's breath that killed Arthur."

"Mordred? But he's just a boy!" Morgana protested.

"He grew up."

"No!" Morgana was desperate now, this couldn't be the future that was destined to be. It couldn't end like this. "I can still fix it! Just tell me how!"

The other Morgana nodded once. "Do not trust Morgause. Find Emrys."

Then with a flash of gold light she was gone.

Morgana opened her eyes with a start. Her fever had finally broken and she had but one thought on her mind: she had to make things right.


OK, so I have the chapters all planned out, the first seven are all going to be edits and re-writes with some major changes; some chapters are cut some are stretched out. After that it's going to be a mix of new material (with a major new plot point I'm jazzed about) and some older/ rewritten stuff until the 18th chapter when it's all brand new until ending after the 25th chapter. I'm hoping now to have a new chapter uploaded every two weeks right now, as I am a full-time grad student with full-time job.

Next Chapter: Sides of a Table (2/20)

Until then, please drop a review so I know I'm not completely insane for doing this godforsaken fic 10 years later. I'm really going to need external validation to finish this thing once and for all.