Of Destinies, Inevitability and Simple Logic

"I really don't understand what you have against Morgana, Kilgharrah!" Merlin argued, waving his hands in frustration. "I mean, she's such a nice person! And she has magic! Why shouldn't I tell her about mine?"

"I told you already, young warlock, yet you refuse to listen!" the Great Dragon growled in anger. "The witch is dangerous and she shall become Arthur's sworn enemy."

"So what do you expect me to do, huh? Kill her?!"

"That would be most preferable, yes."

"I can't do that! I can't just walk around killing people who might become dangerous!"

"You are blinded by your desire to see good in people meant for darkness. You must kill the witch, in order to fulfill your destiny!"

Merlin gritted his teeth in disgust.

"Destiny, destiny! I'm seriously sick of how you keep telling me this as if I have no choice in the matter!"

"None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin, and none of us can escape it."

Merlin opened his mouth like he was about to make another angry retort, when suddenly he stopped. His eyes widened, then blinked several times.

"Wait. So let me get this straight. Destinies cannot be changed."

"That is correct, young warlock."

"And Morgana's destiny is to become Arthur's enemy."

"Finally, you're starting to see reason," the dragon said, pleased.

"But she isn't one right now..."

Kilgharrah lost his pleased expression. "Do not doubt my words, Merlin, she will be. It is inevitable."

"Stop, just... let me get to the point. Destiny can't be changed, and Morgana is going to become evil. But she isn't yet."

"I thought we've already established that, Merlin," the Great Dragon rolled his eyes.

"So... your advice for this situation is to kill Morgana."

"Of course, the witch must be destroyed."

"But if I were to kill her," Merlin said slowly "She couldn't possibly become Arthur's enemy. Because, obviously, she'd be dead."

The dragon suddenly fell silent. Merlin narrowed his eyes.

"In other words, you're telling me to change destiny... through killing Morgana."

Kilgharrah was suspiciously silent.

"So... either there's a huge flaw in your logic, or you're telling me to do something impossible."

Merlin watched with no little satisfaction as the Great Dragon avoided his eyes, speechless for the first time since they had met.

"Let's go through this again." Merlin stated, making hand gestures for emphasis. "You want me to kill Morgana. In order to change destiny? Or maybe..." There was an epiphany in his eyes. "...Maybe because the only way she'd become Arthur's enemy if she believed that I've betrayed her and tried to kill her for no good reason?"

Kilgharrah looked very irritated.

"Or maybe because it's technically killing two birds with one stone, because you obviously don't like Morgana, so if I killed her you'd be happy, but if I failed then this supposedly inevitable destiny would move forward faster and, hopefully for you, you'd force me to let you out of here so you could merrily carry on with burning Camelot - even though it would be a much more logical choice to just destroy the Castle and kill Uther - so that dozens of innocent people would die for absolutely no reason, except perhaps me finding out all of a sudden that my previously unknown father is alive and has this great power that can only be passed onto me if he dies, which of course, knowing my luck, will immediately happen," Merlin quickly finished in one breath, crossing his arms and throwing the dragon an accusing look. "Or am I wrong?"

The Great Dragon seemed very impressed and extremely sulky at the same time.

"How very perceptive of you, young warlock. I admit that perhaps I underestimated you," he admitted.

Merlin nodded, still glaring.

"Great, so now will you give me a straight answer, for once in your life - what the heck is your deal with 'inevitable destinies'?"

Kilgharrah stared for a long, then sighed in defeat.

"Very well. The truth is, the only real prophecy about the Once and Future King and his extremely powerful warlock Emrys is that they would be constantly in danger, chased by sorcerers, monsters, assassins and every other imaginable evil, and if the Once and Future King dies before returning magic to the land like he's supposed to, Emrys will have to wait a thousand and a half years or so before he returns from the dead and can finally fulfill his destiny properly. The Druids made up all the other prophecies about you to make themselves feel better, because you're supposed to be infinitely-powerful and they want you to protect them when the Once and Future King takes the crown, but the truth is the future isn't guaranteed at all. Arthur might restore magic and bring balance to the universe, or he could die horribly before even legalizing magic. I told you about the inevitability of destinies because I knew Emrys would always be the one with the short end of the stick, suffering emotional, verbal and physical abuse on every turn and constantly making unfair sacrifices for the sake of selfish people who wouldn't appreciate him, so I decided for a little glorified, more optimistic approach so you wouldn't just leave after your first week."

Merlin's jaw dropped.

"Ignoring the whole 'I-lied-to-you-and-you-may-have-been-suffering-for-nothing' thing... You call telling me Morgana's going to turn evil no matter what an optimistic approach?!"

"Well, she is very likely to become evil soon. Like an ancient, tiny green monster said once, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering... and possibly a psychotic breakdown."

"Were on earth did you get that last one?"

"It was true enough with Uther, wasn't it? An apple won't fall far from the tree."

Merlin blinked in confusion. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing." Kilgharrah said innocently. "It's not like Morgana and Uther are related or anything."

"Alright, but like you said, Morgana's future isn't guaranteed at all."

"Telling her about your magic is still an awful risk, Merlin."

"I deal with risk every day, I don't think it makes that much of a difference! If I weren't so relieved about this, I would have been really pissed off with you, since you've been lying to me from the start..." The warlock frowned. "But I suppose if fate really was carved in stone, then I wouldn't have to protect the Arthur's sorry arse all the time. Because if destiny was inevitable, Arthur would have to survive somehow with or without my help in order to become king, or have any enemies for that matter..." Merlin scratched his head. "I can't believe I haven't thought about that one before!"

"Good thing you didn't, young warlock. If you gave up on your first day on the job, that would have been disastrous for everyone."

Merlin knew he would have never done that, he wasn't just going to leave the prince and let him die the moment he realized destinies weren't certain things. After all, Arthur had become his friend, despite his thorough prattishness, and Merlin cared about Camelot. He was seriously offended Kilgharrah thought so little of him. However, the warlock needed to have one last crucial issue clarified.

"But Arthur still can become an amazing king who restores magic, right?"

The dragon shrugged, a little surprised at Merlin's optimistic attitude despite being told such awful news. "I suppose so. At least he can't possibly be worse than Uther."

"Then, I guess that's enough for me!" Merlin grinned and turned away. "Now excuse me, I have a friend to talk to about something I should have told her weeks ago..."

One hour later:

"Oh, Merlin, thank you so much!" Morgana said with tears in her eyes. "You wouldn't believe how scared I was, when Gaius wouldn't believe me!"

Merlin patted her hand sympathetically. "It's alright, Morgana. I'm here for you."

"I am so relieved. So that dragon has been lying to you all this time?"

"Yeah, I mean he seriously twisted the truth on several occasions. But everything's okay now. You know I would never hurt you on purpose."

"Neither would I, Merlin, I swear."

Merlin hesitated.

"Even if it meant getting rid of Uther? I know you're not very fond of him at the moment..."

"I might not like him," Morgana admitted with reluctance. "But now that, thanks to you, I know I have other options than homicide or living in constant fear and terror, I don't think I could bring myself to really do it. I mean, the man did raise me, no matter how cold-hearted he can be, I do care for him to some extent."

"Thank you, Morgana, that means so much to me." Merlin beamed at her, and Morgana smiled.

"You're very welcome, Merlin."

The End.

Author's Note:

What just happened, you ask? ...Honestly, I have no idea. xD

Thanks for reading, please comment and follow and favorite if you can, but most importantly - read on and enjoy! :)