Morgana

She could sense her brother's presence trudging through the desert. He was nowhere close so she had plenty of time. Her friends were exactly where she wanted them, she originally was just going to let Merlin rot in there, the same way he let her rot.

But Guenivere would probably be annoying her all throughout dinner about where Merlin was, so she dusted off another chair and got more plates. It would be a small inconvenience, if her plan succeeded Guenivere would go back to how she was, loyal to her, and the first order of business would be to make her forget about Arthur and Merlin and her love for Camelot.

It wasn't going to be that easy though for Guenivere, I couldn't help but feel slightly unsatisfied still… she kept the cobwebs hanging around the candles.

With everything ready the only thing she had to grab was her "guests", first she went up to Merlin's room, he didn't even notice her presence until she cleared her throat, "Dinner is ready."

He jolted his head towards Morgana, his blue eyes narrowing, "I'm not hungry." he replied flatly, throwing a pebble at her boredly.

"Whether you are hungry or not you're coming to dinner." I commanded, before adding, "...Guinevere has been asking for you."

That got his attention, studying her with a bit more interest. A moment passed, then another, "Fine."

I didn't trust him not to run so I tied a rope to his wrist, if he really wanted to get out he probably could, I knew better than anyone what sweet innocent Merlin was capable of, there weren't many materials in this old dusty place though, this was simply to warn me if he tried anything funny.

We walked up higher, and higher, up the stairs, every so often Merlin would lag behind and I would yank on the rope. Eventually we came to where Gwen was. Her panicked screams rang out echoing down the narrow corridors, "What have you done to her?" said Merlin the fire in his eyes not matching his carefully controlled voice, she could almost swear they flashed golden.

I gave a small shrug with a smirk, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

And so we went in, black goop dripping into our hair and clothes, "Gwenivere, oh Gwen! Guinevere, where are you?" I called out into the darkness.

Merlin glanced around as well, spotting her tucked away in a corner… Silly girl…

I knelt down beside her, she also didn't react to me pulling her up and gently leading her out of the room, only then did she reanimate, "Wha- Where are you taking me, Morgana?" she spat out my name as if it was beneath her, despite the fact I should have been the Queen and she a serving girl.

"We are heading to dinner." I made a gesture towards Merlin who was glaring daggers at my back.

Going down the stairs was much faster than going up them, and before we could have any more chitchat we arrived at the table, I released Merlin, I only needed him under close watch if he decided to run off while I was distracted by Guenivere, now they were sitting directly across from me in large silver engraved chairs so there was no need for the rope.

"Eat, here. Food always makes me feel better." I scooted their plates close to them. They glanced down at the food, then at each other, and then at me. I began to delicately pick at my serving of chicken and vegetables. They did and said nothing.

"You have to eat." I told them, "You two are fading away."

Merlin spoke up first, it was always known that the idiots were the ones to speak first, "I think I speak for both of us when I say that we want nothing to do with you, or with your food."

Guinevere nodded, "I don't know what cruel trick your playing but we won't be broken by you." Such brave words, I suppose we would see how well they would hold up.

Guinevere needed to know that this wasn't a trick I did want to be her friend, and all she thought was that I was simply trying to deceive her, even if the plan was to break her first… "I thought this would be nice." I said in a cold disappointed voice, guilt was a powerful deflector. "I know how lonely you must be, all by yourself..." She had touched a nerve, I knew it, as if that was some kind of serious torture, "At least your not shackled, and there is daylight. You can move. You can see. You are lucky that it's me who is setting you guys back on the right paths! I have been so merciful and you repay me like this, I even got you guys dinner-"

Merlin rolled his eyes, in the most least sorry voice anyone could muster he cut in, "Thousands of apologies but could we maybe wrap this sob story up? Maybe I'm being crazy but are we going to ignore the hundreds you have killed

"Don't pretend your precious King's hands are clean of blood." I responded, "Or yours for that matter." Merlin glanced away. "The difference is that I am correcting a wrong that should have been dealt with decades ago rather than allowing prejudices control my actions.

Guinevere protested immediately, "You're blinded by prejudices though. You never even gave Arthur a chance. Give the spawn of Uther Pendragon a chance? Born and raised by his side, taught everything from that overconfident dictator…

Ignoring that idiotic statement I continued, food completely forgotten. "It's only wrong when I do things isn't it? I killed Knights. The civilians for the most part were spared, unless they were being unusually aggressive or in the cases of accidents."

I needed them to understand that their entire perception had been completely skewed by Uther and Arthur's lies. "People with magic have been persecuted simply for having powers, am I not the mighty rebellion leader ready to right the injustices of the past? Even with Uther gone the ban has not been lifted, I had hoped Arthur would see some sort of reason but clearly he has not. I spent two years chained to a wall, at the bottom of the pit, " She saw Guenivere's face slowly morphing into horror, Merlin's stayed carefully interested, no shock or surprise, she'd hoped there would be more of a reaction from him, he was just as cold blooded as Arthur to the plight of her people, what had she ever seen in him? Her blood boiled, no more letting past friendships with Merlin getting in the way.

I redirected all my attention to Guenivere, Merlin was beyond reason, her head shook like she couldn't believe what I was saying, "I would have sold my soul for someone to show me kindness such as this… Do you still want me to take you back there?" I stared at her, knowing that she was exactly where I wanted her.