DISCLAIMER: IF I OWNED MERLIN, MERGANA WOULD BE CANNON. AND THERE WOULD BE A SEASON 6. AND NO ONE WOULD EVER DIE, EVER. EXCEPT MOFFAT.

OOPSIE NOTE: I labled the last chapter chapter 2 at the top, soooooooo yeah... and the chappie name got changed a bit...

Chapter Four: Merlin is Saved and Uther is Awkward

3rd Person POV

Bill and Bob hated their job. They were stuck in the market, while all their friends were stationed "guarding" the tavern. Seriously, who sends guards to a tavern? They almost jumped when someone tapped them on the shoulders.

"Hello," said a chipper voice. They turned around just in time to see a figure in a shabby cloak running away with... was that two belts? They both looked down in time to see their pants fall to their knees. It would be nice if someone would make a stretchy material that could be sewn in to the pants... some sort of... elastic. Bob was about to tell Bill of his new idea, but then he remembered their situation. He quickly pulled up his pants, running after the person who had humiliated them. He didn't care that the people at the market were laughing, he just wanted his belt back... Bob stopped and turned around to make sure Bill was there, but Bill was going too fast. He crashed into Bob, and they both fell onto a table of... belts. They turned around hurriedly, running in the direction that they thought the thief had gone.

"I will get my belt. And the thief will pay," Thought Bill. The duo ran through the streets, completely forgetting their jobs.

A few minutes earlier...

Calli and Em giggled excitedly as they looked through the cloaks. This was going to be awesome. They selected two that were very shabby and would blend in with the crowd. Calli's was dark blue and had some darker patches, while Em's was brown with red patches. Em was faster, so she would complete stage one (Mission Belt-Snatcher,) and Calli was better at picking locks (from practice during a rainy day) so she would do stage two (Mission Lockpick (she didn't like the name very much, it needed more awesomeness)) and then it would be stage three (Mission RUN AWAY). Em snuck off to steal the guards' belts, while she went to pick the lock on the stocks. The guards weren't there just to watch the stocks, their main purpose was to make sure no one started a fight or stole anything in the market, but they probably wouldn't just sit there while someone escaped from the stocks. She walked up behind Merlin and took the pin from her hair. "When I say run, run," she whispered (Calli had always wanted to say that line). He tried to jump (failing and hitting his head in the process) and then he attempted to turn his head (hitting it again). "Oh, yeah, sorry for being so dramatic. I've just always wanted to say that. It's Calli," she whispered again. He stopped hitting his head when she started to pick the lock, and instead watched with amusement as a short figure in a cloak stole the guards' belts. They ran off. "Remarkably good timing," he thought. "Unless... is that Em?" He chuckled. "This was your plan?"

"Well, yeah... it could have been better..." Calli trailed off.

"It's brilliant," Merlin grinned. "Who thought of stealing their belts?"

"Me," Calli admitted. "Em's plan was to blow something up and then free you using a giant hammer while they were distracted, but someone might have gotten hurt..." Calli had liked that plan. Explosions were fun. Merlin laughed, and luckily none of the people that had been throwing food noticed. They had (luckily) gone to get more. "Aha!" Calli popped open the lock. "Now run!" She pulled Merlin along with her through the market, not realizing she had grabbed his hand. They ran into an alley and paused for breath after they realized no one was following them. Calli looked down and quickly let go of his hand. His fingers were long (like Artemis Fowl's (he played piano and typed a lot)) and his hand had been warm. It had felt nice. Normally she disliked any type of physical contact because it was awkward, but this was different. She shook her head, mentally throwing a book at herself (it was the Blood of Olympus but that wasn't out yet... a girl can dream though) and returning from her "Mind Palace." She grinned. The plan had worked!

"So, where did you learn to pick locks? I didn't think they taught princesses those sorts of things," Merlin asked.

"I had a lot of free time. Then I ran out of books, so I started teaching myself things. Sewing, acting, swordplay, how to pick a lock..." she trailed off as footsteps approached the alley, stepping in front of Merlin (she didn't want to make him use magic for protection) but it was Em. She grinned and started laughing. "It worked! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THEIR FACES!" She shouted, but Calli quickly shushed her, attempting to stifle her own maniacal laughter. "Did you leave the belts?" She asked.

"Yep. Lets go watch." Em said, running further down the alley. Calli and Merlin followed, stopping at the mouth of an alley that was in clear view of the tavern. There was a group of guards, and one of them had two belts (and a bemused expression) on his face. The rest were looking around confusedly. Calli guessed that they were far from sober, and one of them proved her right when he tripped over his own foot and started laughing. Then two guards ran around the corner holding up their pants, and things got even better. They started yelling at the others, asking if anyone had come by. Then they saw their comrade with the belts on his face and tried to take them. He snatched them back, growling protectively. Apparently he didn't have a high alcohol tolerance... "they landed on my face! Not yours!" He shouted defensively. "Go find your own!"

"Those are ours! Gimmie!" The beltless guards both attacked their drunken belt-faced coworker, but soon every guard had joined in, despite not knowing whose side they were on. Ten minutes later they had all passed out (or been knocked out) and Em, Merlin, and Calli were running away laughing.

"You don't act like royalty," Merlin grinned, and then quickly stopped. "I don't mean it as an insult, I just meant-"

"It's fine," Calli laughed, and then spoke in a whisper. "We're not royals. Secretly we're from a future," she said. Merlin laughed, but Em sent a look of warning towards Calli. If anyone ever figured it out... they would be (at the least) banished from Camelot. Suddenly Calli stopped, and Em walked into her. "I forgot!" She shouted in horror.

"Forgot?" Merlin raised an eyebrow.

"We have to go to a fancy food dinner thing," Calli explained (albeit not very well).

"Uther sent a letter and everything," Em finished.

"Oh. Well, see you around. Thanks for, you know..." Merlin said as he started to walk away.

"Any time, see you!" Calli called after him. Em and Calli quickly ran to the castle and changed (they had been running around all day) and spent the remaining thirty minutes before they had to go on Calli's hair. They managed to get it in a braid, and the rebellious long strand in the front was braided as well. Calli wore a midnight blue dress with silver hem, and Em wore a bright purple dress that had dark blue embroidery. They arrived on time (barely; they had to run through the castle) and politely knocked on the large double doors to the throne room.

"Enter," called Uther. Calli and Em walked in slowly, and sat where Uther gestured. Calli noticed that she was seated next to where Arthur usually sat, but thought nothing of it. Morgana entered the throne room and seemed to roll her eyes at Uther while sending a look of apology towards Calli (Calli wasn't sure how (or why) she did it) and took her seat on Uther's left side. Five minutes later Arthur entered and sat on Uther's right. The king clapped his hands and a group of servants entered, bearing platters of food. Calli grinned at Em's excited expression, and waited for the food to be served. For the first ten minutes the only eventful thing that happened was Em stabbed a piece of some kind of Medieval food so hard that it flew off her plate and hit her in the face (even Uther chuckled at this) but then the king cleared his throat.

"It is time to breach the subject that I mentioned in my invitation." He said.

"What subject, father?" Asked Arthur. Apparently he was even more confused than me.

"The subject of marriage," Uther explained.

"What?" Calli and Arthur exclaimed, while Em chocked on her food. Morgana simply sent another eye roll/sympathetic glance, and said nothing.

"Calli, I believe it would be beneficial to the kingdom if a marriage was arranged. Between you and my son, Arthur."

Calli stared at him, and felt her face redden. Surely this was a joke? Arthur seemed to have the same idea. "But father, surely it is too soon-" He began, but Uther interrupted. "It is never too soon to plan a wedding between two people that barely know each other. Besides, you will not be wed for years yet. You will have plenty of time to get to know each other. These are just plans made to lay out your entire future."

"Sire, I would like to agree with Arthur on this matter. We are both very young, and as you said, we will not be wed for many years. What if it becomes necessary for the kingdom to make a strong alliance, but you have already arranged a less beneficial partnership?" Calli said, mentally smirking. She had used something he said (suggesting at least part of it was his idea) which always worked in books (except when it didn't).

"I had not thought of it as such. Perhaps you are too young to arrange such a bond. But in the future I will bring it up again," Uther stated.

Calli released a breath she hadn't consciously been holding. Arthur wasn't ugly or anything, but he wasn't exactly someone who could challenge her mentally. Merlin, on the other hand... he was magical (Calli mentally punched herself in the face once more). "Thank you, my lord." She said.

The meal continued in awkward silence for the next few minutes, and no one was really eating anything (except Em, of course. Food was food). Until Arthur rose. "Father, I have training early this morning. It would be best if I retired." He bowed and respectfully walked away upon receiving a nod in response. Two minutes later Calli stood. "Sire, Em and I must leave. If Em stays up any longer than she won't get up in the morning, and if I do not retire soon then I will not be able to use the smelling salts to wake her." Uther nodded once more and she grabbed Em's arm and walked out of the throne room. Calli was dimly aware of Morgana saying something to Uther, and then a pair of footsteps followed her path vacating the throne room. Em was staring forlornly in the direction of the food, but she forgot about it when she saw that Morgana was following them. She paused to let her catch up, and Calli did as well.

"I'm sorry about King Uther," she said. "He told me his idea and I tried to change his mind but- well..." Morgana trailed off awkwardly.

"Oh, it's alright. Hopefully he won't bring it up again for a while. Or ever." Calli shuddered. It had just been so awkward...

Morgana laughed. "He has tried to marry off Arthur before, but it was before meeting the neighboring king's heir. It turned out he had a son, and they each thought the other had a daughter." She chuckled at the memory. "Well, goodnight." Morgana walked off, while Calli and Em returned to their rooms. Calli stopped before they got there, remembering their plan. "We have to go talk to Merlin!" She dragged Em off, but stopped when she heard a deep rumbling. Calli looked around, startled, before realizing that it was just in her head. She had had random laughter in her head, but never rumbling... the sound got louder, becoming a roar. "You... should... not... be... here..." Calli jumped, and began to run towards where she could sense the noise was coming from.

Calli's POV

I ran towards the signal, but it was fading. It had to be Kilgarrah, no one else had mindspeak (as I had chosen to call it) and would be able to know we didn't belong. I didn't hate Kilgarrah, I just didn't think he should tell everyone what to do (although I would probably ask him for advice if I needed it). Merlin always knew what to do (usually) and he would have done the right thing about Morgana. But the dragon poisoned his mind. He was the reason everything collapsed, the reason no one got their happy ending. I went to the dragon's lair (another thing I've always wanted to say) and luckily there were no guards (well technically there were but they were unconscious). But that meant... Merlin was here. And the time line in the show said that Lady Helen should be here, but she was late. At least we had more time... I dragged Em along with me, but she seemed confused. Had she heard the dragon? She was covering her ears, so she must have. We didn't have time to wait for her to be coherent, so I kept running through the stone passages towards the dragon. I stopped just before we ran out into the cavern, and luckily Merlin's back was towards us. I pulled Em further back into the passage, hoping that the darkness would hide us when Merlin came through. I listened to the prophetic lines of Kilgarrah as I waited for Merlin to go so that I could yell at the dragon. After a minute or so, Merlin turned to leave. Em and I crept back along the passage to an area of total darkness, but I had forgotten that Merlin was carrying a torch. I silently hoped that he would somehow not see us as I pressed myself against the wall, Em doing the same. When he turned the corner I closed my eyes, sure that he would see us. But he continued walking, and after I heard his footsteps retreat I opened my eyes once more. How had we been so lucky? I tried to look for Em, I knew exactly where she was, but somehow I couldn't focus on that point. My eyes kept veering to the right or left. I finally forced myself to look, and grinned. "I think Kilgarrah used some kind of perception spell on us." I said. Speaking of Kilgarrah, how had he spoken in our heads? It was probably something to do with us being from the future, unless we had magic or something. But I doubted that we did. When we reached the cavern the dragon was waiting for us, and he did not appear to be in a good mood.

"Who are you, and how and why did you come to Camelot?" He asked us, sounding faintly annoyed.

"I'm a fangirl geek (maybe a fangeek?) from the future and/or another dimension (we're not sure) and this is Em, also a fangirl from wherever I'm from." I said, not caring if Killy got a bit confused from that.

"Why are you here?"

"No idea. But you, Mr. Grumpy-Scales, need to not stick to the prophecy so much. Where we come from this is a drama thing that people watch, and because of your advice all this bad stuff happens. You make the prophecies come true, but not in a good way. People die because of what you do. You ruin everything, especially for Merlin. He is left behind with nothing, doomed to be alone until the king returns. But it doesn't have to be that way. Don't tell him not to trust Morgana. Don't say that Mordred is evil. Give them a chance to prove the prophecies wrong. Let him decide who is and who isn't bad. Provide advice, but don't tell him exactly what to do. We both know how the prophecies end. With Arthur dead and Merlin alone. Don't make the prophecies happen, fight them. If you tell him that Mordred is to defeat Arthur, then he will. If you say Morgana is evil, you will make her so. Hold your peace, and see if I am right." I stopped for breath. Hopefully Kilgarrah would listen.

"How do I know you speak the truth?" The golden dragon's eyes narrowed.

"You don't. All I can do is try to make things end better for everyone." I wouldn't be able to prove it. I could say something that would happen, but then he would just think I was a seer.

"I will think on what you have said. But to meddle with time, to try to alter what has been foretold- that is a dangerous task. Be careful, young time-travelers."

"M'kay." Replied Em, clearly wanting to leave so that she could find some food.

"Thanks for that perception spell thing by the way," I said, walking out of the cavern.

3rd Person POV

"Thanks for that perception spell thing by the way," called Calli as she retreated from the cavern.

"What perception spell?" Muttered the ancient dragon. He dismissed the thought. Perhaps she had been joking, young people usually were these days. Was she telling the truth about what she had said concerning the prophecies? She had seemed to be, at least- she believed she was. He would think on her words in the morning, but now it was time to rest. He was growing weary after his long years in this cave, and the slightest bit of anything exhausted him. He closed his golden eyes, dreaming of a world without prophecies, a land where people walked the earth unbound by destiny, free to do what they wished. But this world, as much as it pleased him, scared the Great Dragon. After all, what use would there be for magic in such a land?

A/N: Sooooooo do ya like it? REVIEW!

QUESTION OF THE CHAPPIE: What do you do when your uncle's made of stew? And someone tell me, should this fic be Calli/Merlin?