Hi everyone!

This is a story I thought of a few weeks ago, about what might have happened if Morgana's magic was discovered years ago, it's quite AU and has a sort of fairy tale aspect to it.

It took me a while to post this as I've been so busy with exams and didn't think it was very well written, but now I've found the time I thought, why not, I'll just post it and see what people think :)

So, if you'd like to read more of the story please say! This first chapter is sort of a prologue/flashback, I hope it's ok :)

Chapter 1

The First Time

She remembered the first time it happened in public, the last time it would happen in public.

She always had a feeling something was wrong with her, there was something different about her. Lighted candles would flicker into darkness without a breeze, people would appear who were in her dreams the night before, and she felt this strange, tingling feeling in her fingers, as if they were filled with power that they were desperate to release.

She didn't tell anyone about these strange happenings though. It might be nothing, everyone her age might feel like this, she just didn't have anyone her age to tell her so, just a little Prince who she just ended up arguing with when the conversation turned too serious. And she couldn't tell anyone, just in case it wasn't normal, just in case it was magic.

Magic. The word struck fear into her heart because she knew what it meant. It meant she was something dangerous, unwanted, evil. She had seen the way the King, her guardian, treated those with magic, and the thought of the same thing happening to her made her blood freeze within her veins. And after years of being told how terrible magic is, she didn't know how to look at herself in the mirror. She was the monster she had been taught to fear. How could she live with that?

Even now, Lady Morgana looks at herself in the mirror and isn't quite sure what she should see. But sometimes she still sees the eyes of a frightened child, on the day everything came to light.

It was in the middle of a dinner party. That's what made it worse. All those rich people who probably had the same views of magic as the King, Uther. So many witnesses meant there were too many people to just pretend it didn't happen, and not enough to try and defend her against the terrifying King with some sort of excuse.

Everyone thought Morgana was quite a sweet girl at only nine years old. Some would treat her like a child, even though she no longer felt like a child. Fear of who she was and her position in society had chased away her innocence a long time ago. Others would ignore her, but some treated her with more respect, and even sounded pleased to see her.

"And how are you Lady Morgana? I hope we're not boring you with our talk of politics! I hear you're becoming a swift rider on a horse now." Said an elderly looking woman in a fine white, silky dress that matched the colour of her hair. She wasn't trying to bend down to Morgana's height, which always annoyed her, but was just putting on a friendly smile on her face and trying to start an interesting conversation.

"I'm fine thank you my Lady. And yes, I do enjoy riding my horse, it's more interesting than politics," Morgana decided to add, cheekily.

The Lady smiled, "I must agree, although it is a good opportunity to see everyone again, even if the conversation isn't very exciting." She looked up from Morgana to see a young man, possibly her son, trying to catch her attention, she sighed. "Would you excuse me my Lady? I need to talk to someone, I won't take long." She said with another smile and a small bow, before making her way over to her son.

Perhaps if the woman had stayed, if she had kept talking to Morgana, it would have distracted her. Morgana wouldn't have noticed the plates falling from the servant's hands onto the floor, so perhaps she wouldn't have done anything.

But no, when the lady had moved away Morgana could clearly see one of the servants trying to carry a whole armful of plates that he needed to take out of the Great Hall. Everything seemed to go in slow motion when he suddenly lost his grip and the plates slipped out of his hands, tumbling to the floor.

Morgana couldn't help but gasp as she saw what was going to happen, and for some reason cried out "stop!" to the plates, as if somehow they would listen to her and not fall to the floor with a terrible crash.

And that was the worse thing. The plates did listen to her, or something happened, and they stopped in mid air. Frozen in time just as they were slipping out of the servant's fingers.

There was a collected gasp all around, as everyone stopped and stared at the frozen plates. A horrible silence fell.

And then their eyes slowly turned to Morgana. Standing there, as frozen as the plates, staring at them in astonishment, knowing what she had just done but not understanding how.

Morgana managed to break her gaze from the plates and she looked around to see Uther, standing there, watching her, eyes wide with horror but eyebrows creased with anger. She could see the disappointment and despair in his face. His ward has magic.

As soon as she looked away time returned to the plates, and they crashed to the ground. Still the terrible silence continued. Morgana caught sight of the kind woman who had just been talking to her. She looked so sad, as she knew sweet little Morgana will soon be dead for this.

Suddenly the guards, who had been standing by the door just in case anyone troublesome entered, not realising the enemy was already within the castle, stepped forward. They were probably just as shocked as everyone else, but decided to do what they had been told to in this situation, even if it was the King's ward. The guards pulled out their swords and pointed them at Morgana, ready to slay her if she ran, or perhaps they were going to kill her on the spot. There were more gasps within the horrified crowd.

But Morgana was out of control with her magic now, completely out of control. As one of the guards came closer, she started to panic, and one of the plates rose up in the air all by itself, and then flung itself at the guard.

It deflected off the guard's armour easily, but the action caused uproar. People were already buzzing like insects about what they had just seen, trying to work out what had happened, others were shouting at Uther and the guards to do something, a few were even screaming. Some were trying to get away from Morgana, as if they were her next victim.

The guards came closer, swords raised.

"No!" Cried out Uther suddenly. His arm stretched out towards Morgana as if he wanted to protect her, but other than that he didn't move.

At the sound of his voice, the guards stopped, the crowd quietened. Most people were now looking at Uther, who was trying to stay calm.

"Morgana, come here..." he began, but his words sounded too threatening, and Morgana grew scared, thinking about the number of people with magic Uther had condemned to death. She was next.

At that moment, Morgana suddenly found her feet were no longer stuck to the floor, and she made a run for it. Dodging past the surprised soldiers, she made a run for the door.

"Seize her!" Uther cried out, and panic erupted in the room again, but Morgana couldn't see anything, her eyes were focused on the open door to the Great Hall, now unguarded, possibly her only chance to escape.

Someone grabbed onto her sleeve, not violently, but gently, as if they were pulling her back to try and comfort her. Morgana turned to see the young Prince Arthur holding onto her sleeve, a look of complete surprise on his face. He opened his mouth to say something.

Perhaps she could have trusted him, if the surprise on Arthur's was not mixed with fear, and if he wasn't Uther's son.

She pulled herself out of his grip and ran.

They found her eventually. Deep down Morgana knew they would. She had planned to take her horse and run away, go and live in the woods or travel to a world where maybe no one else would kill her because of who she was. She rushed up to her chamber to pack, but half way through she knew she wouldn't get anywhere. How could she survive in the woods? Where could she go where people didn't judge her? How could she escape the guards? They were already reaching her chambers, coming to kill her.

Overcome with emotion, Morgana collapsed in a heap on her bed and sobbed her heart out.

A gentle yet firm hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. Uther. She hadn't even heard him come in. Morgana froze with horror, waiting to hear what her fate would be.

"Morgana," the King said slowly, she could hear the anger in his voice, but he was suppressing it too. Was this is a good sign, or were there other people in the room and he didn't want to explode with rage in front of them? She couldn't tell, she hadn't looked up from the warm comfort and darkness of her bed. "You've been infected...with a terrible curse." Uther continued. "But I promised your father that I would take care of you, and that's what I'm going to do."

Morgana didn't understand. What did he mean, take care of her? It didn't sound like in a cruel way, as in he would take care of this 'curse' by killing her, and she thought that when you had magic it was your fault, but it didn't sound like Uther was blaming her for anything.

"We're going to put you somewhere safe," he added.

Before Morgana knew it, she was being moved out of her chambers and into the castle's tallest tower in secret. She was kept on being told it was for her own safety, just in case people came after her, but it didn't take long for Morgana to realise that she was being imprisoned. She couldn't leave the room, they locked the door, and she was too high up to escape through a window. Sometimes people came to visit her, but they wouldn't answer any of her desperate questions about what was happening on the outside, and over time she got less visits.

Morgana had been locked off from the rest of the world, and everyone had forgotten about her.

Uther told his people the next week that Morgana had been infected with a terrible curse by a wizard and it had killed her. The whole Kingdom went into mourning for the sweet, quiet little girl while prosecutions for all those rumoured to have magic increased even more, as if Uther was trying to make up for the fact that he couldn't kill his own ward.

But such secrets cannot be hidden forever, and soon someone will question what's in the tallest tower of Camelot's castle, and what really happened to the Lady Morgana.