A/N: So . . . here it is. Morgana is in this chapter (because I have issues when people don't give us her reactions to magic being legal in Camelot) and I think she might be OOC. I don't know, I've never written her before. Tell me what you think?

This chapter/epilogue is dedicated to everyone who's ever reviewed this story. This is . . . it's been amazing, you guys are great.

R&R. Enjoy. Sorry it's over.

EPILOGUE

The jubilation of the people pulled a feast-day from nowhere. Arthur couldn't help smiling as he walked among the laughing, dancing people and saw the colorful, harmless, sparks pinwheeling through the air as young children chased them, laughing. He saw one young woman with very pale skin, white hair, and eyes a pale shade of violet, healing a child's scraped knee with no more than a touch. She smiled at him as he passed, and he smiled back. He had thought that he would feel uncomfortable with such obvious magic all around him, but it just felt right. Perhaps it was due to the role magic had had in his birth, perhaps not.

On the second night of the celebrations, Merlin left the Citadel to walk the streets with Arthur, who kept a rapt eye on his friend. Merlin was so glaringly happy it made Arthur smile. A small girl ran up to Merlin, tugging on his tunic sleeves. He squatted down to her level, and she giggled. "Can you show me magic, Emrys?" A Druid girl, then. The Druids had been filtering slowly into the city, as if afraid the whole thing was a ruse. Merlin smiled, and his eyes glowed golden as a small dragon made of golden light appeared in his hands. "You didn't even need words," the girl said, awed. Merlin laughed.

"Not all the time," he agreed. The dragon flew off, and the girl chased after it. Merlin stood up, smiling after the girl as she leapt, trying to catch the being of light that darted between her hands.

"You're good with children," Arthur noted.

"If any of yours have magic, I'll teach them," Merlin muttered, still looking after the girl. He turned to smirk at Arthur. "Heard you'll be marrying Gwen next week. Took you long enough."

Arthur nodded, and he would have stopped the goofy grin that spread across his face at the mention of the upcoming wedding if he could have. But he couldn't, so Merlin's grin widened. "The people are happy enough for something to celebrate," he noted. "They needed this, what with the war we've been having against Morgana." He paused for a moment, a surprised look on his face. "Speak of the Devil," he muttered, and spun, grabbing the arm of a cloaked and hooded figure who had come up behind them "and he shall appear," Merlin finished as the hood fell back. Arthur gaped at the face of his once-sister.

Her dark hair was tangled and lank, but her face held an expression that Arthur had never thought to see upon it. Sadness.

"I'm sorry," she croaked, as Merlin hustled them all into an alley. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Merlin."

"As am I," the man said quietly. "I know I should have told you, should have helped you, but I was as scared as I know you are now, as you have always been." Arthur felt like a shadow on a wall. In the night. Invisible. But this was so freaking weird, he didn't care. There were tears on Morgana's pale face.

"How can you trust me? How can you be so near me and not be wary?" Merlin smiled at her with a shaky mouth.

"The same way you know I trust you." A sob was ripped from Morgana's throat. "Shh," Merlin said, brushing away her tears with his thumb. "You're alright. You're okay. You don't need to be afraid anymore." Morgana looked towards Arthur.

"Arthur . . . I . . ."

"What happened to you, Morgana?" His voice came out a little harsher than he had meant.

She took a shaky breath before answering him. "I was so afraid. Not so afraid of death, I think, as of betrayal."

"And you didn't think of those you would betray?"

She hung her head. "I wasn't thinking clearly," she admitted. "But . . . I think I already felt I had betrayed you by possessing magic and . . ." another sob before she calmed herself. "Morgause was very persuasive. And she was my sister, Arthur."

"Am I not your brother? You have called me that often enough in the past year, Morgana."

Her expression was lost and sad. "I didn't know. I didn't know I was Uther's daughter 'till much later. Arthur, I'm so sorry, things got so out of hand, and I let myself become a monster . . ."

It was that word, rather than anything that she had said, that had Arthur taking his sobbing sister in his arms. "Never." He said. "You are not a monster. No one is a true monster, Morgana. No one." She laughed through the sobs, and it was the laugh of the young woman he had always thought of as his sister, even when he did not know her true parentage. "Stay here," Arthur said, pulling back a pace. He nodded to Merlin, drawing the man down the alley where he could still keep an eye on Morgana's silhouette.

"Is magic telling you to trust her?" He asked.

Merlin looked at him in understanding, rolling his eyes slightly before answering. "That, and previous suspicions," Merlin said. Morgause was only killed a couple weeks ago, and that can be how long it takes for a compulsion spell to totally wear off."

"So . . ." Arthur said slowly, looking towards Morgana, "she wasn't herself these past years?"

"Not all of them, not all the way. A compulsion simply compels a person to act a certain way, or intensify certain emotions. I can still feel the remanence of the spell on her, it's just that she wasn't particularly . . . she wasn't fighting the compulsion, which could be due to any number of reasons. However, I do think we can trust her. Though . . . it might be best if most did not know she was back."

Arthur stared at Merlin. It was such an odd thing that Merlin talked like this, with authority. "So we smuggle her to the heart of Camelot?"

Merlin shrugged. "I'm not going to ask you to. I wouldn't fight you if you put her in the dungeons. But I'd like to learn what she remembers and how much she knows." He looked at Arthur, blue eyes glinting in the light from the full moon. "And no one, is a monster, Arthur."

Arthur felt his mouth drop open as Merlin walked past him to Morgana, who pulled her deep hood back up to hide her face. Arthur followed. Merlin stopped at the mouth of the alleyway, muttering something to himself, before turning to Arthur. "You'll have to take her," he said, sounding almost apologetic. Whether it was an apology to Arthur or Morgana, he wasn't sure. "The Druids all recognize me, and some of the other people know I can do magic." He made a wry expression. "I guess you'll have to skulk in the shadow a bit now, my King."

Arthur didn't know if that was a joke or not, but he took Morgana by the arm, turning to walk back into the shadows between houses, Merlin's voice coming quietly after them. "I'll meet you in your chambers, Arthur."

Morgana trembled a little in his grip, but she kept up with him. In fact,he could see that she was doing her best not to take the lead, as she had been wont to do all during their childhood. He brought her into the Citadel through a secret passageway that she must have already known, the number of times she had gotten into the castle from the dungeons or crypts. He hurried up the stairs out of the empty dungeon, into the torch-lit corridors of the main Citadel. He all but ran to his chambers; they were lucky that most of the Castle staff and servants were out celebrating.

Merlin was somehow already in the room when Arthur entered, Morgana behind him. Gwen was there as well.

"Oh, Gwen," Morgana said as the young woman stared at her with a blank expression. "Oh Gwen, I'm so sorry, so sorry, I . . ." But Gwen just held up her hand.

"I can't understand what Merlin did, and claim that I don't understand your actions." she said, moving to grip Morgana's forearms and hoist the woman to her feet from where she had fallen to her knees. "Fear can be a terrible motivator."

"How do you not hate me?"

"Hate is a strong word, Morgana," Gwen murmured. "I'm not sure I trust you, but I understand you." She turned to look at Arthur. "How will the people respond to her being back?"

"You would know better than I," he said helplessly.

"I don't have to stay here," Morgana said.

Arthur would not allow that. "No, you will stay here, where I can keep an eye on you." Morgana took her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying it softly.

"But I will cause problems . . ."

"Yes. But so will my legalizing magic. We'll ride the waves out. Morgana, you're not the only magic-user that I'll have to pardon for mistakes made to save their lives. But I am not as sure as Merlin that I can trust you." Arthur looked at Merlin, unsure how the man would respond to what he was going to ah . . . suggest. "Being that Merlin trusts you, I think I'll trust him to look after you until I'm sure you are totally trustworthy."

Merlin looked surprised, but he nodded slowly. Arthur hoped that the two of them would be good for each other. Merlin was still suffering. It was in his eyes, if not in his smile; but he could deal with that later. Right now, he was happy just to look at the smile that looked like it would never leave Merlin's face.

A/N: I know this ending is a little incomplete, and I'm sorry. There may be a sequel coming up sometime after I finish my stories Tartarus and To Resist. If there is, I will update with the information.

*sniff* well, this is where I say goodbye to the most responsive, positive, amazing audience I've ever had. You guys are awesome, have a good night. *sniff* pause. *breaks down bawling.*

*sniffle* review? *sniffle*