Sorry I haven't posted in so long! I JUST GOT ENGAGED J So now I'm busy planning a wedding and being distracted. But here is the long awaited chapter J

Welcome to your life, there's no turning back

The guards had long escorted Arthur to his chamber, holding onto his arms like a damn child, like he might run away the first chance he got. They pushed him, if not a little roughly (which was completely unnecessary if you ask Arthur, he was still royalty), into his room and slammed the doors shut.

Arthur stared at the empty room for a second, frowning as he scanned for something, anything that would relieve the weight on his heart. He wasn't even hoping to find anything, until he saw a piece of parchment laying stretched across his table, the pen moving through the air, as if a ghost was writing him a letter.

He figured he should be more alarmed then he was, and if he was his father, he'd be screaming, running out the door, yelling "Sorcery!" as loud as he possibly could, but since meeting Merlin, weird had become kinda normal. He dropped into his favorite chair, leaning over to watch the ink scribble across the page.

Arthur,

I know you're angry and I know you're hurt. I don't have anything to tell you to make that feel better except that I'm okay. I mean, I'm not, but I am. I'm sorry that probably didn't make much sense. Anyway, I'm getting distracted. I need you to listen to me. Morgana will be coming in your room in a few minutes. You need to listen to her. I need you to promise to look after her, to protect her. You will know why shortly.

I will see you soon.

Merlin

He scrunched his eyebrows together as the pen dropped onto the table. He reread it once, twice, still baffled by the "I will see you soon" part of the message. And then there was a knock on the door.

"Enter," He said without thinking or looking up. He already knew who it would be after all.

Sure enough, it was Morgana peeking in, looking mischievous as always, but with a hint of fear that wasn't usually there. "Arthur? Are you busy?"

"I'm twenty-one and imprisoned in my own room. What do you think?"

She smiled, opening the door completely and then shutting it behind her. She walked over, sinking into the chair across from Arthur and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "So that was quite the entertainment back there."

Arthur gave a half-assed smile. He wasn't about to joke about something that was weighing so heavily on him, "Yeah."

"Everyone's talking about it. They're all wondering what's going on between you and Emrys."

"The servants are always gossiping about our lives, Morgana, that's nothing new."

"He almost razed the castle to the ground, Arthur. Three guards are dead, several people are injured."

He looked up at her, exasperated, "He was just given a death sentence, Morgana, it was expected of him to react badly."

She held his eyes for a second, piercing green into blue, and then calmly said, "We both know that wasn't it. I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn't until the guard pushed you down that he lost it," her eyes flicked back to his, "So what is going on between you and him? Don't lie to me."

Arthur dropped his fist to the table, the loud clank of it making her jump, "What do you want me to say? I'm the prince. Anything between him and I is wrong. Even friendship."

"It may be wrong to your Father, but not to me. So be honest with me."

He groaned, bringing his hand up to rub at his face, but didn't say anything. He couldn't. Like he said, what was he supposed to say? He didn't think sorcery was evil? He loved Merlin (which he didn't)? His father had executed plenty of men in his time for both of those reasons.

"Arthur," And for once, his name wasn't said in spite, annoyance, teasing or even pity. Instead it was pleading, begging for him to be honest. He looked up, thought back to the letter Merlin left him, the one currently rolled up and pushed to the side, where Merlin had begged him to listen to her. Morgana reached across the table and grabbed his hand, stroking her thumb over the back of his hand, "Do you believe sorcery is evil?"

Arthur couldn't trust himself to speak, to break all the training his father had done with him, so he just stared forward, but he hoped his eyes said enough and they must have because the shock was evident in Morgana's face, "Do you believe sorcerers should be burned?"

He thought of the girl executed for healing her brother, the boy who grew a flower for the girl he was courting only to be burned at the stake before he could give it to her; he thought of Gwen's father, and of the hundreds and thousands of sorcerers who met the same fate. He thought of Merlin. He thought of Merlin tied down to the stake, the greatest sorcerer to ever live, destroyed without a second's thought, and his hand tightened unconsciously around Morgana's.

When he looked up, Morgana was shaking. He stared, shocked, as he had only seen Morgana afraid once or twice. "Morga-"

Morgana pulled her hand away, brushing away the stray hairs in her face with shaky hands. She took a deep breath. "Watch," she said simply and then stared forward at the small, unlit candle on his table. He watched her for a second, before he shifted to look at the candle.

Suddenly, it jumped to life, shooting up and up until the flame was almost as tall as the candle itself. Arthur felt his heart drop, felt his confusion turn to fear and anger and despair all at once. He looked back to Morgana, his eyes wide, teary, and watched as the gold (darker than Merlin's, but still there) faded away from Morgana's eyes, and all that left was the fearful sorcerer ward of the sorcerer-hating king.

He stared at her and she stared back, her eyes wide and fearful, but a hint of defiance, then she started stuttering, "I didn't ask for it. I didn't study it. I-I hated it just as much as the rest of you, but it just happened. And I can't, I can't control it. And I'm so so scared, Arthur. Uther will burn me alive if he finds out and I don't…I don't know what to do. I didn't ask for this."

His heart clenched painfully. She was alone. Terrified. She had been alone for God knows how long, constantly afraid of being executed simply for being born different, afraid of being betrayed by her one-and-only father figure in her life. All of the sorcerers she had fought for, had stood up for, all because they were one of her own. All of the executions she had to watch, knowing that could be her. Morgana was rarely afraid, rarely able to show weakness, she was raised a Pendragon after all.

He stood, shoving the chair back and causing it to fall over in his haste. She stood too, backing away almost instinctively, and his hand went to his knife. She followed the movement of his hand and her eyes widened, backing away, "Arthur, please."

He knew what he must look like. He knew must look every bit the part his father made him to be, no emotion, no weakness, no hint of compassion or love and he hated himself for it. He withdrew his knife, hated the way Morgana shrunk away, trembling, and threw it to the floor.

He knew enough now to know that sorcerers weren't the ones that couldn't be trusted. It was the Pendragons.

He saw the instant her shoulders sagged in relief as he surged forward to wrap his arms around her in a hug. She melted into him, burying her face into his neck, and he felt her break, her hands clenched in his tunic and hot tears streaming down the side of his neck.

He held her, brushing her hair through his fingers and until he felt her calm down. He knew this wasn't easy for her, she didn't open up like that easily and she never, ever cried.

When he felt her breathing calm down, he pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers, his hand on her forearm as she kept her hands clenched in the front of his tunic. Her eyes were closed and he closed his, breathing in, "Listen to me. I won't let anything happen to you. I'm going to protect you. I promise."

She smiled, sniffling, and leaned forward to press her lips against his cheek and then hugged him briefly again, "I know you will, Arthur."

When he pulled away, he reached for Merlin's letter and handed it to him, "You can thank him. He made me promise."

She unrolled it, read it, then looked back up to him, "How did he write this? He was taken to the dungeons immediately."

"I don't pretend to understand how he works," Arthur muttered.

"He's incredible, Arthur. The amount of power in him. I can feel it, even now. It's almost suffocating. It's as if the ocean lies within him."

"You can feel all that?"

She nodded her head, true excitement showing in her eyes, "I could feel him as soon as you stepped foot into Camelot. It was like this, ugh, I don't know how to describe it, this rush of power and warmth flooding into every fiber in my being. I knew he was close. And when he walked into the throne room, I could barely breathe. It's like he's the sun, Arthur. It's like he's the thread that strings the world together, but at the same time, he could annihilate it with a single breath."

"And yet, he can't escape the damn dungeons. Typical," He groaned, reaching over to pour himself a drink.

"He's choosing to be down there, Arthur. He's in cold iron and he's still strong enough to destroy every life in this castle."

"That's what I don't fucking understand. He could have left this place, but he won't. He won't fucking leave and in three days, he's going to be dead," His voice cracked on the last word and he stood, turning away from Morgana, ashamed, and moved to stand beside the window.

"You love him." It wasn't a question.

"I don't love him, Morgana. Don't be such a girl."

She moved to stand behind him, a hand on his shoulder and squeezing, "Okay, maybe not love, but there's something there."

He glanced back at her, to see if she was teasing or mocking, and when he saw the serious look on her face, he sighed, turning away, "It doesn't matter, Morgana. He'll be dead in a few days."

"I know you better than to believe that," She turned him to face her, "If you are serious about changing things, about freeing sorcerers from persecution, then we need to make a stand. We need to talk to Emrys."

"Merlin. He wants to be called Merlin."

"Merlin then. I will speak to him."

Arthur laughed humorlessly. "He's on a twenty-four hour lockdown, Morgana. He can't be reached."

"You clearly don't know how clever I am. I will find a way. Start planning an escape route for yourself," and before he could even argue, she was slipping out the door. Leave it to Morgana.

He turned back to face the window, to watch the pyre in the courtyard below. Let Morgana talk to Merlin, he still was a stubborn ass and wouldn't listen to reason.

"Your faith in me is astounding, really."

Arthur about jumped out of his fucking skin, turning on his heel and almost falling over. He caught the side of the windowsill to hold himself up and stared at a sight even stranger than a floating pen. It was Merlin, lounging in his favorite chair, long legs stretched out in front of him and very much real despite the fact he was supposed to be locked up five floors below.

"What in the damn hell are you doing here?"

"Making you see reason."

A/N: Andddd the next chapter should be up shortly. Review J