Prologue

A Glimpse of the Future

"Hurry, Morgana!"

The corridor the three of them were hurrying down was narrow, dark and cold, and her heartbeat thumping loudly in her ears did little to drown out the sound of moans and soft sobs around her. She grit her teeth and continued on, trying not to think about all the others in here, focusing instead on the two warm hands she was holding; one large and one very small.

The metal bracelet around her wrist buzzed viciously, a timely reminder to keep her emotions under control. She took a deep breath to calm herself whilst her companions' hands gently squeezed hers, attempting to give reassurance.

"Nearly there."

Finally the trio reached the end of the corridor and rushed through the doorway it into an exceptionally large room where the air felt warmer and the room lighter, despite the power still having not come back on. She took a deep breath which ended in a sigh of relief, even though she knew they weren't safe quite yet. The three of them paused for a moment, trying to get their bearings and allow for their eyes to get used to the small amount of extra light here.

"You know the drill."

Morgana turned to the tall, young man and nodded her understanding, before giving a reassuring smile to the little boy whose hand she was still holding. One part of her felt a warm rush of affection as she looked at the pair, whilst another part seemed confused, as if trying to work out who they were.

Putting that strange thought to one side, Morgana let go of their hands and moved towards the main door, going over the steps she needed to take to ensure there was no trace of their presence here when Gaius returned to work the following day.

"Why?"

She froze at the sound of the unexpected, but familiar, voice and turned to see her brother step out of the shadows, a look of extreme hurt on his face.

"I had my suspicions," he said, quietly. "But I never wanted it to be true. Why are you doing this?"

"Arthur... I can explain..." the young man began.

"I trusted you. Both of you. And yet all the time you were plotting against Camelot?"

Morgana shook her head. "I begged you, Arthur and told you this wasn't right, but you were happy to let me keep wearing this..." She lifted her arm. "...prison around my wrist, despite the problems it caused me. You were happy for me to stay in pain."

"Happy?" He shook his head. "Never that."

"Merlin showed me another way," she continued. "A better way."

Arthur turned sad eyes towards his friend. "I don't understand. I thought you were the most loyal person I knew."

"I am loyal, Arthur and I never wanted to hurt you but, Morgana's correct, this is all wrong. Uther is wrong. I cannot sit ideally by whilst my people suffer."

"Your people?" Arthur asked, incredulously.

Merlin nodded and placed one gentle hand on the boy's shoulder whilst beckoning Morgana back towards him with the other.

"He's just a child," she said as the small hand found its way back into hers. "And yet he was imprisoned here without trial."

"He's a unregistered sorcerer," Arthur replied.

"A child," she repeated. "This place will be the death of him and the Gauntlet will kill him."

"Nonsense. We all wear them for our protection."

"That's not true, Arthur," Merlin disagreed. "They can kill people. Innocent people. I know that from personal experience. Please let us go. There's no reason for Uther to know that any of us were here tonight."

Although in truth, with the three of them in this position, her brother's permission was hardly required.

Arthur shook his head sadly. "I have to tell Father some of what happened here. If you leave now you won't be allowed to return."

"Not yet," Merlin replied. "But, trust me, I will be back to keep an eye on you." She felt his amused exhalation of breath on her hair. "You know you won't survive long without me."

Arthur continued to stare at them, his face full of disappointment and uncertainty until, to her surprise, he gave a firm nod and moved back into the shadows, silently giving his permission for them to go.

She felt herself pulled into an even firmer embrace - the boy still close by her side - before the most amazing burst of warmth and light started to flow through her body; caressing her.

It was magic.

She had no idea it could feel so sensual so... erotic. It started deep within her and rushed outwards, filling her with so much joy and love and...

~o~0~o~

Morgana woke up with a start as an all-too-familiar alarm blared throughout her apartment building. She cried out in dismay as she looked down at dead-looking Gauntlet around her wrist and realised that its usual, bright lights were no longer flickering.

"Oh, no! Not again." She grabbed for the phone by her bedside and quickly dialled a number. "Come on!" she demanded as it continued to ring.

"Hello?" a sleepy and rather cross voice on the other line begun. "Have you any idea what time it is?"

"Gaius, it's Morgana. You have to help me!"

The voice turned softer. "What is it, child? Is that the magic alarm I can hear?"

"Yes, it happened again. I had this strange dream and must have used magic in my sleep. The Knights will be here soon and my Gauntlet's completely dead. They'll know it's me and... I'll be in so much trouble."

"Calm down, Morgana it'll be fine. I gave you that exemption letter, remember? Just show that to the Knights when they arrive and I'll be over there as soon as I can."

"But..."

"What did you dream about?"

"I can't remember much. I know Arthur was there and a small boy and... someone else... It felt..."

"Yes?"

"Like some of those nightmares I've had before. It felt... real."

"It wasn't an old memory? Or just a very vivid dream?"

"No, I think it was more than that. I didn't even recognise the two dark-haired males although I definitely knew them in the dream."

"Well, you go and find that letter and I'll be over as soon as possible. We can talk about it more then and I'll fix your Gauntlet. Just do your best to remain calm in the meantime."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Gaius."

~o~0~o~

Next Time, Chapter One: Two years later and Morgana is still having issues with her Gauntlet, but is now working in The Camelot Institute's Gauntlet research laboratory.

A/N: Here we go again. Nice, long, Mergana multi-parter which I plan to update every Sunday. Enjoy. :D

Feel free to review, comment and speculate.: