A/N: Hello! This is my very first fanfiction, I hope you enjoy! I'm kinda disappointed that Morgana's 100% evil at this point. I hope to bring back a little bit of the old Morgana but keep her going strong on the fight for magic to be restored.
Disclaimer: Merlin does not belong to me, if it did, Morgana would be less evil
Merlin was nervous. The outcome of tonight would affect so many things and he was so close to ensuring that magic would once again return to Albion. He had practiced the spell for hours before, making sure the incantation would work properly.
He glanced over at Arthur, wishing he could support his friend as his true self, and praying that Arthur would soon be relieved after Uther had been healed.
This will work. This is my destiny, he reaffirmed himself, bundling his herbs and starting towards the dying king.
Before Merlin could take another step a voice rang out "ætstandan onhreran." With that Merlin and Arhtur felt their joints freeze and found themselves immobile and fixed to the spot they were standing, facing the last person they ever expected to see on the grounds of the Camelot Castle.
"Morgana," Arthur was the first to address his former friend "What are you doing here? GUARDS"
"Please Arthur," smirked Morgana, using the same haughty tone she used to address him the way she did when she teased him growing up, "You did a magnificent job in making sure no one would hear you from this room. I see that you have indeed found yourself a sorcerer," Morgana arched an eyebrow in Merlin's direction, "What would Uther have to say about this?"
She turned then, looking Merlin straight in the eyes. "Emrys," her eyes widened in shock before hardening her gaze. She advanced towards him, then stopped, turning her head in Uther's direction, "Another time."
Morgana knew she shouldn't be here. Shouldn't be risking being caught by the guards, shouldn't be undoing the magic she had woven around Uther. But she could feel his pain, feel the wound slowly taking him away from this world, feel the weight of her enchanted pendant and the malignant magic radiating from it. She walked to his bedside, What a wretched looking man. You are much changed, Uther Pendragon, father, than you were the last time I saw you. And indeed Uther had changed, aged and crooked, not a man that would one would think of as the King of Camelot, but a fragile shadow of what once was. It's a shame Uther, that you did not change in any way that matters. You are still the man who lied to me, the man who neither acknowledged me as his daughter nor acknowledged my magic as something to be embraced.
She took a step towards Uther. "Get away from him," bellowed Arthur. "I don't know what you're doing here Morgana, but he's our father. Don't you dare do anything to him." Arthur stared at her with his cold blue eyes, and Morgana felt a ping of guilt, of hurt, from the look of hatred he gave her.
She turned to Arthur, putting on her trademark sneer, "Always so ready to leap into action Arthur, why don't you just enjoy being stuck in place", and with a flick of her wrist Arthur felt his muscles renew in stiffness. "You know Arthur, I have missed you. Missed besting you in swordplay, archery, horseback riding…" she taunted, but her expression softened then, and when she looked at Arthur he swore he saw the old Morgana again. The Morgana that was scared but brave, the Morgana that always tried to stand up for the weak, even if it incurred the wrath of Uther. "Watch me do something better than you again."
Morgana leaned down and stroked Uther's hair with one hand, reaching for the necklace with the other. "Remember who saved you father," she whispered in his ear, before ripping the necklace off.
"Don't do this Morgana. Please. Look at me Morgana. Please I beg of you, don't kill our father."
Morgana looked up at Arthur, the boy she grew up with. It hurt that he was begging her, that he thought of her as a killer. I suppose that's the way things are now. And yet she still felt as if those words were constricting her airway, and she breathlessly murmured "If it matters at all Arthur, I'm sorry." She looked him dead in the eye. "I'm sorry I betrayed you and things happened the way they did—"
"Then change things Morgana. Please, take my life instead, let Dragoon heal him and—"
"I'm not interested in taking your life," Morgana's voice raised in anger, "I'm not interested in taking anyone's life. Don't patronize me Arthur, you should know better by now. "
She reached underneath her cloak and took out a small vile, emptied the contents over Uther's wound and uttered "Butan þæt cwalu. Hrðe þon aidlian. Hrðe þon eðian. Bot ond tile."
And to the shock of Merlin, Arthur, and even Morgana herself, Uther's eyes opened, and with a gasp of breath he returned to life.
A/N: I hope you guys liked this. I'm not sure where I'm going with it exactly, but leave me some reviews with your thoughts/opinions! Thanks!