Alas, we have reached the final chapter of "A Very Merlin Christmas" I must say, I'm sad to see it end. It was super fun to write, and hopefully I'll do one next year!

I'm so grateful for all my reader's, and their amazing reviews! You guys have truly inspired me to write more! Thanks!

This chapter is probably my favorite just because it was so much fun to write. This is set during Season 3, sometime after Episode 10. Morgana's a bit ranty at the beginning of the chapter (so I'd rate the first 15 paragraphs K+ for meaness), and if you like it then I suggest you read "Time to Repent" by me. Ok, enough with the advertising. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it!

Oh, and props to those who made up the Gingerbread Man story.

Morgana stared out upon the courtyard with her face twisted into a sneer. It was Christmas time, and it sickened her to see all the people she hated having such a jolly time. All she wanted was to be Queen of Camelot and spend Christmas with her sister. Was that really so much to ask?

But no. She had to sit here and fake being Uther's doting ward. Each day she'd have to plaster a fake smile on her face, and watch as the tyrant enjoyed his Christmas. And she'd also have to watch her futile step-brother flirt with the servant Gwen. And Merlin, that murderer, how could he bare to walk the halls with a smile on his face? He had tried to kill her.

What made it worse was Uther's family from a distant Kingdom was visiting. These people should know she's Uther's daughter, but no, her 'father' was too proud for that. Even though Morgana was gorgeous, strong, and witty, he would never admit the truth.

So, they'd all look down at her. Oh, the poor little orphan. Wasn't it so good of Uther to take the unfortunate little girl in? How wonderful he was! How wonderful was the man who killed hundreds of people for having something they couldn't help. If Uther had any idea that Morgana had magic she'd be dead. He'd even execute her on Christmas, if needed. Morgana's fists clench with anger.

"Are the King's family here?" Questions Gwen from behind.

The witch's hands quickly relax, and she turns to Gwen with a fake smile, "Yes, they are."

"Oh, good! Arthur has been talking about his family visiting it for months."

"Really Gwen? Why would Arthur talk to you about such things?" Morgana asked in a friendly way, but inside she was seething.

"Oh..I…um..heard it from Merlin." Gwen finally replied.

Morgana resisted the urge from smirking; she enjoyed watching Gwen squirm, "Of course. How is Merlin now a days? I haven't seen him in such a long time." Which was true. Merlin avoided Morgana as much as possible. Whether it was out of fear or guilt, Morgana didn't care. She didn't want to be anywhere near such a monster.

"He's good. He seems to be very happy…when Arthur isn't making him do more work than he can handle. But you know, as much as Arthur tries to hide it, I can tell him and Merlin are best friends."

All Morgana wants to do is roll her eyes. She'd prefer to see their heads on a spike, "Arthur was never one to break social classes."

The servant looked down at her feet, knowing very well that was the truth, "The reason I am here is because Uther has summoned you, my lady."

"Oh yes, I must go meet the family. Thank you Gwen." Morgana walked over the door and opened it. She paused under the threshold, and a bit of the old Morgana peaked back into her features, "Merry Christmas, Gwen."

"Merry Christmas, my lady."

Morgana made her way to the courtyard, her flats clopping on the stone floor. As she passed a staircase in which she recently fell, Morgana shuddered. She hated reliving that memory. Morgana had been so helpless. Not like she was now, though. She had Uther in the palm of her hands.

When she arrived at the courtyard she smiled as she stood by Uther's side. Arthur was on the other side, with his traitor servant not that far behind him. The tyrant king gave Morgana a nod, and then started his welcome speech.

"Welcome to my home, the great Kingdom of Camelot. It is my pleasure to invite you a safe land, free of any treacherous magic. Here you will find no such evil, but only joy. This will be a Christmas you will never forget. Now please, come. Let me give you a tour of the castle."

Morgana followed the party, but every second of it all she wanted to do was throw up. Safe? Joy? Oh, Uther Pendragon, you never miss a chance to trash magic. Morgana smirked. She had a plan. Uther was right about one thing, this was a Christmas they'd never forget.

When the very long tour had ended, Morgana retired to her room. She dismissed Gwen, and began preparing for her next plan. Christmas would be chaotic; she'd make sure of that.

…

Meanwhile, Arthur too had just made his way back to his room, with his faithful servant following in suit. Arthur collapsed on the bed and rubbed his eyes.

"That was the most boring time of. My. Life." He grumbled.

"Now you know how I feel when I am forced to watch you train the knights, polish your boots, clean your room, make your bed, sharpen your sword, muck the stables-"

"-Merlin?"

"Yes, sire?"

"Shut up."

The servant's mouth quickly stopped moving, and he bent down pick up one of Arthur's boots that had been carelessly taken off.

"I liked your gift Merlin," Arthur lied, "It was a very nice…uh..what was it?"

"A wash cloth sire, you know, to wash your face with."

Arthur eyed the open package lying on his table across the room. It sort of looked like a cloth, but it was more like a mess of tangled yarn. The young prince had opened it early that morning.

"Merlin, did you make it?"

"Yes! I think I did quite a good job, don't you agree? Mom taught me a couple of years ago, and I was completely hopeless then."

Arthur did not point at that he still was hopeless, but nodded his head instead.

"Well, I continued last year's tradition."

The servant had a puzzled look on his face, "What are you talking about?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "I'm talking about presents, idiot." With that he handed Merlin a package.

"Is it another neckerchief? Because I got one from Gaius, Gwen, and my mother. If I get another one I think I'm going to have to tear them all to shreds!"

"No Merlin, it's not another neckerchief. Just open the package."

The young warlock did as he was told, and pulled out a…..

"…..You got me a teddy bear?"

"Well, figuring that you're such a girl's petticoat, I thought you'd like it."

Merlin just smiled and shook his head.

…

Morgana stood over her design with the biggest smirk on her face.

"And now…" she whispered, "Awake."

And the object in front of her began shifting. Its body arched, it's knees bent, and….

Its gumdrop eyes opened.

That's right, it was a gingerbread man. An alive one, mind you.

"Very good, Gingy. Yes, wake up. Good."

"Whoaaaa! Where am I?" The cute little cookie cooed.

Morgana smirked, "You're in Camelot. And I command you to wreck havoc on this foul Kingdom."

The cookie bounced up and its little eyes wondered around the room, "Hmmm…no thank you." Its cute little voice decided.

Morgana's smirk faded, and her forehead creased, "Excuse me?"

"I don't think I want to do that."

"Listen here, cookie, I gave you life, and I can take it away by snapping you in half."

"Not if you can't catch me!" With that the cookie hopped off the table and headed for the door. Before Morgana could get over her surprise and shut the door with magic, the little cookie had darted out of the room.

"Run, run as fast as you can," she heard him chant, "You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

The running cookie caught the eyes of many, including the knights, Gwen, Arthur, Merlin, Gaius, and even King Uther himself. For a while everybody was chasing after him, but the little guy soon disappeared. So, everybody met up in the throne room.

Uther's fist hit the table, "This cannot be happening! And enchanted cookie running around the castle? For goodness sakes, my brother is here! If he finds out then we'll hear about it for years!"

"I agree, this cookie is threat to Camelot must be stopped." Prince Arthur agreed.

Morgana smirked. Well, this wasn't exactly how she planned things, but it was still making things difficult for Uther. Merlin, the only one who ever notices the young witch smirk, glared at her. She was behind this, Merlin was sure of that.

"Gaius, what do you make of this?" Uther questioned.

"This is a very easy magic, sire, and even the dumbest of sorcerers could conjure up a spell to enchant a cookie. I've just never met one stupid enough to actually do it. It's quite childish, really."

The seething Morgana glared at the Court Physician.

"Could it have been Dragoon? He didn't seem very smart."

Smart enough to escape from Camelot, Merlin thought, very annoyed.

"That possibility is quite probable, sire."

"How do we stop this, Gaius?"

"Wel,l first we have to catch it."

"Duh." Merlin muttered quietly. Arthur elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"And then someone has to eat it. It's as simple as that."

"Catching it won't be easy, though." Morgana piped in. Both Merlin and Gaius resisted the urge to strangle her. It was quite annoying to hear Morgana trying to 'help' when she was the cause of all this.

"Morgana's right," Arthur agreed, "The…cookie…will be very difficult to track, let alone seize. The knights and I will start on it right away."

"No. We cannot involve the knights in this. That will only bring my family's attention to it. So you will have to do it Arthur, with only your servant to help."

Arthur nodded, "Come, Merlin."

…

When they arrived back in Arthur's room, the young prince put his hands on his hips, "If I were a cookie, where would I be? The kitchen's, perhaps?"

Merlin shook his head, "Then he would just get served to the guests. And an enchanted cookie would not want to be eaten."

"Then where would he be? Such a little cookie could be anywhere in this castle."

Outside, the warning bells started to ring. Off rhythm.

"I think we just got our answer." Merlin responded. Arthur nodded, and the pair headed off to the tower where the warning bell was located.

…

"Hehehe! Merry Christmas Camelot!" The Gingerbread Man shouted and he rang the warning bell once more. I knight was knocked out in the corner. Poor Camelot. Not only could anybody escape from the dungeons, but apparently the knights could be knocked out by a cookie.

Arthur and Merlin, the heroes, appeared in the door way.

"Your day Camelot has come to an end, cookie." Arthur threatened.

The Gingerbread Man let go of the bell and started intently at Arthur, "I have a name, you know."

Arthur's face was puzzled, "What?"

"My name is Gingerbread Man, so you don't have to call me cookie."

"This is ridiculous!"

"Arthur," Merlin interrupted, "Just go with it. He's a cookie."

"Yeah, listen to pale face."

Merlin glared at the cookie, "I'm not that pale!"

"Actually Merlin, the coo- I'm sorry, Gingerbread Man, is right. You are really pale."

"We're not here to discuss the color of my skin tone! We're here to eat the cookie!"

"Right!" With that, Merlin and Arthur went opposite ways (Merlin has learned much since the Unicorn episode) and surrounded Gingerbread Man.

The cookie lowered his head in defeat, "Alright, I guess you win. I'm finished."

"Really?" Arthur questioned.

"Nah." With that the Gingerbread darted off. Both Merlin and Arthur made a grab for him, but they ended up hitting each other's head.

"Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Arthur quickly got up and looked with dismay at his servant still sprawled out on the floor, "Come on, Merlin!"

The chase continued.

Unfortunately for Uther, the obnoxious cookie ran right by him and his brother while they were talking.

"Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Uther's brother raised an eyebrow, "Free of magic, Uther?"

Uther grinned sheepishly at his brother as his son and his son's servant darted past them.

"Gotta catch that cookie!" Arthur hollered.

The King wanted to die of embarrassment right then and there. From behind him Morgana smirked. This was most definitely the best Christmas present ever.

Arthur and Merlin chased the very fast cookie to the gate of Camelot, in which he escaped. Arthur wiped his brow.

"I can't believe we let him escape." Merlin muttered, baffled.

"Merlin, what are you talking about? I caught the cookie and ate him."

"But he just ran through the gate!"

"Merlin, let me say this slowly. I. Arthur Pendragon. Captured. The. Cookie. And. Ate. Him. The Kingdom has nothing to fear."

"Ooooh, I see." Merlin replied, winking stupidly at Arthur.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Merlin, I've told you once, and I'll tell you again. You couldn't lie to save your life."

Merlin bit his tongue as they both made their way back to Camelot. That night, Arthur washed his face with Merlin's gift, and Merlin slept with the teddy bear. But neither of them would ever admit it.

As for the Gingerbread Man, yeah, he didn't last very long. The silly cookie wandered into a dragon's cave, and found himself a Christmas snack.

Before the dragon fell asleep that night, he muttered something, "Merry Christmas, Merlin. And good luck with the future."

Well, that's it! Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas! (: