Morgana stood alone in her chambers, watching the search commence from her window. She didn't know why they were bothering; an escaped prisoner would surely flee Camelot rather than hide in the castle waiting to be discovered. But what Uther commanded, Arthur did. She smirked as she added, Usually.

Then her eyes drifted into a world seen only by her as she pondered the appearance of this Doctor.

Morgause could be as mysterious and speculative as she wished when it came to this new visitor, but Morgana was far more confused by what she saw than what she was told. This man claimed to be the Doctor, the Doctor in the TARDIS. But he couldn't be the Doctor. She knew that.

He wasn't her Doctor.

It was about an hour before Merlin cooled off enough to ask questions again. The Doctor was wandering around seemingly aimlessly, waving that sonic screwdriver about. "So, what you were saying before, about having two hearts. How's that work? Like, where most people have one you have two for some reason?"

"Yup," the Doctor settled on the short answer.

Merlin's brow furrowed. "What do you use the second heart for?"

"Same thing I use the first one," the Doctor held back a laugh. "Pumping blood. You know usually this isn't the question people go with."

"Alright, if you want to change the subject—"

"Oh don't worry, you're fine."

"Alright, but I've got other questions," Merlin said. "You said your ship, Tardis— what's a Tardis, anyway? What kind of word is that?"

"It's not a word, it's an acronym," the Doctor explained. "Time and Relative Dimension In Space."

"But the Time bit," Merlin pressed, "And you said it took us backwards by fifteen minutes. It travels in time?"

"Yes."

"Is that how you knew me?" Merlin asked. "When we first met, you knew my name. Are you from the future?"

The Doctor shrugged. "In a way. I'm not really from anywhere."

"Yeah, you mentioned that. But do—"

"Hang on," The Doctor must have had better hearing than Merlin, because he apparently detected some change in the sonic screwdriver when he pointed it "This way."

Merlin sprinted with him for a while, but stopped when he saw they were headed for a cave. He grabbed the Doctor's arm to hold him back. "No, no we can't go in there."

"Why not?" The Doctor asked.

"That leads to the Crystal Cave," Merlin said slowly.

"Is it magical?" The Doctor didn't seem to recognize the name.

"Yes."

"Is it dangerous?" He didn't seem to think this question deserved much gravity.

"Yes!" Merlin insisted. "It will mess with your head."

"Will it now?" To Merlin's exasperation, the Doctor sounded intrigued.

"When you look into the Crystals they show you... Visions. Of things yet to come," Merlin explained. "And not usually good things."

The Doctor grew serious now. "How's it do that, I wonder?" But the question wasn't really addressed to Merlin; he shook Merlin off and headed into the cave."

"Wait!" Merlin called, but that did nothing. He gave a growl of frustration and followed. This seemed to be happening a lot today.

"So you still had that question?" The Doctor said as they navigated the uneven tunnels.

"Why do you know me?" Merlin asked.

"Well I opened the doors of the TARDIS and there you were."

"No, you knew my name. I said 'my name'a Merlin' and you knew the name Merlin." He clarified. "Why?"

The Doctor paused for a while.

"Does it have something to do with my destiny, to help Arthur become king and all that?" Merlin finally got the words out.

"Now who told you that?" The Doctor wondered aloud.

"The dragon Kilgara."

"Dragon, eh? I've never met a dragon before. Funny, all this time and I still have yet to meet a dragon." The Doctor feigned lightheartedness. "I'll have to give this one a talking to, mind."

"Kilgara has his own motives, but I think he means well," Merlin said quickly. "I mean, he helps me sometimes, he just doesn't get people sometimes."

"In what ways?" The Doctor asked.

"Compassion," Merlin said, "Loyalty. Friendship. Like, who's a friend, you know?"

"Merlin," the Doctor grew serious, "Has he ever told you to kill anyone?"

Merlin bit his lip. "Well, n— maybe." it felt like tattling, though he wasn't quote sure how. "He said not to trust Morgana, and that turned out to be true, I suppose."

The Doctor sighed. "Merlin, you asked it I was from the future. Time isn't really a straight line, it's always in flux. Sometimes things change, and nobody notices. But there are certain points, fixed points, that can't be changed. If they change there are dire consequences. You might call that destiny."

"So it doesn't matter what I do, the bad things will still happen?" Merlin was not cheered by this thought. All those things Kilgara had said about Morgana, and Uther, and the Druid boy Mordred came to his mind.

"Well aren't you just a right ray of sunshine," the Doctor replied. "There are good things that are fixed too. The point is... Well I'm going to have a conversation with this dragon. Ah, now what's this?"

Merlin knew what lay behind that corner. "That's it."

The Doctor moved forward cautiously. Then looked back. "Are you going to come?" He asked, not expectantly, but as a legitimate question.

"Last time I was in there I was shown something terrible," Merlin admitted.

"You don't have to come if you don't want."

Merlin followed anyway.

This Doctor was all wrong. Wrong height, wrong face, wrong build, wrong clothes. Wrong wrong wrong. But he called himself the Doctor. How could he? Morgana'a mind blazed with questions. But he knows about the TARDIS. He, in accordance with Morgause's prediction, escaped easily, as the Doctor would.

Morgana didn't understand. And that made her angry.

But not angry enough to lash out immediately when a familiar voice greeted her from behind.

The Crystal cave was as beautiful as Merlin remembered it, but he refused to be lulled into comfort by its beauty. He looked only at the ground ad occasionally at the Doctor.

The Doctor was scanning Crystal by Crystal with his sonic screwdriver, a look on his face that betrayed the gravity of his conclusions. "This is wrong. These are not supposed to be here. Not ever."

"Neither are we," Merlin muttered.

"I'm serious," the Doctor heard him. He turned to face the boy sorcerer directly. "Is there one of these in Camelot?"

"Yes, locked up in the Vaults," Merlin answered.

"Not for long," the Doctor promised.

"Why?" Merlin knew they were dangerous, but not dangerous enough that one wasn't safe locked away out of the sight of all.

"These aren't crystals," the Doctor said.

Before he could get any further, the entrance caved in.

A/N: So in this chapter I began two plot threads, one that is important to the story— the one with Nine and Merlin— and one that is a side-arc that I decided to add for dramatic tension— the one with Morgana and... Well, you'll find out. Both have been hinted at here and will be explained/fully introduced in the next chapter. One promises to make you cry and the other is a personal headcanon that will probably make you question my sanity.

Also the Doctor was a little hard on Kilgara but can you blame him?

Review and tell me what you think of this chapter!