Roll reversal. Instead of Arthur being the Once and Future King of Albion, Morgana is the Once and Future Queen, and Arthur takes on the roll Morgana plays. The beginning at least, of this fic, will be quite similar to the beginning of the show, but once it continues it should branch out from the show. But since you know the story, I'll probably skim over some of the things which happen, to stop being repetitive. I'll probably rewrite some of the important scenes however.

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Ect.

The Once and Future Queen

Chapter One

Camelot

Merlin walked through the streets of Camelot, his eyes wandering as he walked, a half smile on his face. In the trip he had taken to get there, he had been looking forward to reaching Camelot, to see what the grand city was like. He had heard stories and rumours, and was interested to see whether they would be true.

He reached the courtyard, and glanced around curiously. A crowd had gathered around a podium, and being forced towards it by two guards was a man. Merlin frowned lightly, wondering what the man had been convicted of.

There came a voice from the balcony above the courtyard, and the crowd turned to face the King. Merlin listened in surprise and horror at his speech, and flinched back along with the crowd when the axe was brought down and the man beheaded.

He swallowed, and forced his eyes away from the beheaded man. They fixed on an open window of the castle, where a woman leant against the window frame, with a saddened expression. He turned back to the king when he started to speak again.

You should have a festival to celebrate magic, he thought bitterly, not because you have tried to run it out of the kingdom. He realised then how worse of a position he was in, having magic right under the kings nose. There was nothing he could do about that though, his mother had sent him here for a reason.

Uther went to leave the balcony, but his departure was stopped by the cry of a woman. The crowd shifted so that they were facing her. And she stared at Uther with such a mournful and grieving expression, one of someone who has lost somebody very dear to them.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic. It is you. With your hatred and your ignorance! You killed my son! But I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son." Merlin had a feeling that Uther was not going to take that very well, he was not wrong.

"Seize her!"

The guards had barely time to move towards her, before she was gone with a swirl of wind. Uther swept off of the balcony, his expression dark. Merlin went off to find Gaius.

Merlin sat on his bed that night, his bag on the floor next to him, reflecting over his day. He had always known how dangerous it was to have magic, how dangerous it would be to come to Camelot, but it had never really sunk in until that afternoon.

He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, and tried to force the image of the beheaded man out of his head. He hadn't even been in Camelot for a day before he'd even used magic, moving to bed to save Gaius from his fall. He groaned and buried his head in his hands. He'd have to be more careful, get a grip on his instinctual magic, otherwise he was in trouble.

With a sigh he settled down into the bed, and his thoughts wandered back to home, wondering how his was faring without him. How Will was going, and everyone else.

Heading through the streets the next morning, after delivering a potion for Gaius, he came across a group of presumably nobles terrorizing a young man. The boy awkwardly holding a shield in his arms, stumbled up and down a stretch of ground, flinching every time a dagger imbedded itself in the wood.

Eventually he stumbled, and the shield fell from his hands. Merlin placed his foot on top of it, to stop the boy picking it up again, and directed his words to the blonde who had been throwing the daggers. "Hey," he said. "Come on, that's enough."

The blonde stared at him, his expression incredulous. "What?" he asked, stepping closer towards Merlin. Who was fervently hoping that this wasn't going to end badly for him.

"You've had your fun my friend."

"Do I know you?" he asked, coming closer so that he was only a foot away.

"Er, I'm Merlin," he introduced himself, holding out his hand for the other to shake. Which was ignored.

"So I don't know you," he said bluntly.

"No," Merlin admitted.

"Yet, you called me friend." Merlin was starting to think that this had been a bad idea, but when his eyes flickered to the young man watching them, he knew that it hadn't. He would have done it again.

"That was my mistake."

"Yes I think so."

"Yeah. I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass," it wasn't his most creative insult, but it would have to do for the moment. He turned to walk away, and heard the disbelieving laugh of the other man.

"Or I one who could be so stupid." Merlin stopped in his tracks, hearing the boy walk towards him. "Tell me Merlin," he drawled, his expression challenging. "Do you know how to walk on your knees?"

"No," Merlin answered, resisting the urge to narrow his eyes at this other man. He did not think very highly of him, he seemed rather arrogant and rude.

The blonde's expression was amused. "Would you like me to help you?" he asked, with mocking niceties.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Merlin warned, because he was not going to let himself be pushed about in Camelot. It was a chance where he could start afresh, and forget the things he had been called in Ealdor. He wasn't going to let this man bully him about.

The blonde laughed and grinned at him, as if he found Merlin's threat amusing to him. Later Merlin supposed that he had, of course he would have. "Why, what are you going to do to me?" he tilted his head mocking to the side.

"You have no idea."

The blonde opened his arms wide, an invitation. "Be my guest," he said, still with that stupidly smug smile on his face. As the whole affair amused him. "Come on," he taunted when Merlin didn't move, he held his arms wider. "Come on. Come onnn."

Merlin lost his grip on his temper, and pulled his arm back, intending to punch the arrogant prat in the face. His blow didn't quite make it, as the blonde caught his arm and twisted it behind Merlin's back, who winced lightly.

"I'll have you thrown in jail for that," he said quietly to the struggling boy in his arms.

"Who do you think you are?" Merlin spat at him, pulling on his arm, but the other's grip on it was too tight. "The king?"

"No, I'm his son. Arthur."

Sitting in the cells Merlin reflected on his horrible luck. Of course it would be, of course in his first full day in Camelot he would have a go at the Prince. He cursed his luck and ran a hand through his hair. Arrested on his first day, that almost had to be some sort of record.

He groaned, and lightly thumped his head back on the stone wall. He'd tried to punch the Prince, he was an idiot. He hadn't known he was the Prince, he reflected, not that it made it any better. And the Prince was a prat, not that that made it any better either, but he was. He feared for Camelot's future when he took the throne. He only hoped that he managed to mature before then. Especially with how he had been treating the servant.

Trying to find a comfortable position on the straw to lie in, he thought he might as well at least get some sleep, it wasn't as thought he was doing anything else of importance. He was startled awake by his name, and blinked sleepily around the cell, seeing no sign of another person.

He frowned, and heard it again, from the floor. Jumping up he frowned, and then got back on his knees, tilting his head towards it. He was startled by his name again, this time coming from outside the cell. He turned to see Gaius, giving him a confused look.

"I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen. I'm the Lady Morgana's maid."

"Come on, then. I warn you, I've been trained to kill since birth."

"Wow, and how long have you been training to be a prat?"

"You can't address me like that."

"I'm sorry. H-How long have you been training to be a prat, My Lord?"

"Wait. Let him go. He may be an idiot, but he's a brave one. There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it."

"I don't want to! If I can't use magic, what have I got? I'm just a nobody, and I always will be. If I can't use magic, I might as well die."

Merlin startled awake that night, hearing the voice he had heard earlier in the cell. Hearing it again, he stumbled out of bed, and crept out of the room, throwing a nervous glanced towards Gaius as he crept out.

He followed the voice across the square, and down some stairs. But stops upon seeing the guards, he frowns for a moment and then spots the dice. With an inward grin, he concentrates on the dice, and sends them spiraling off of the table.

When a guard went to pick them up, he moved them again, and again. Until both guards were following the runaway dice. As he sped past where they had been sitting, he wondered why they hadn't thought anything suspicious about dice suddenly flying off of the table. And moving out of their reach.

He lit a torch, and headed down a darkened stairwell, once again hearing his name, like a whisper in the wind. He frowned, but continued to follow the noise. Half asleep he wasn't quite thinking of how dangerous it could be to follow an unknown noise into the dark.

It was quite a shock to him when a dragon appeared out of no where. He stumbled back, but kept a firm grip on the sword in his hand staring in awe and terror at the creature that perched onto a large rock. He said nothing, just staring at the creature, wondering if all the fruit he had been pelted with had addled his brains.

There couldn't be a dragon sitting there in front of him. They were all gone. And no dragon was foolish enough to reside in Camelot, not with the king's stance on magic and dragons. It wasn't until he noticed the chain that things clicked. He was trapped here. "How small you are, for such a great destiny."

Merlin blinked in confusion at the dragon. "Why? What do you mean?" he asked curiously, what destiny, he wondered. "What destiny?" he asked, willing the dragon to explain, as the dragon settled down on the rock.

"Your gift Merlin, was given to you for a reason."

"So there is a reason," he let out a sigh. If there was a reason to his magic, then surely that made things better. He didn't just have magic because the gods thought it would be amusing to play with him, scare his mother to bits, and make him different to the other children he had grown up with.

"Morgana is the Once and Future Queen who will unite the land of Albion." Merlin blinked at him, Morgana? He thought with a frown. He did not know of a Morgana. And why was it Morgana? Queen? As far as he knew Uther only had one child, Arthur. Perhaps this Morgana was said to marry him. He started as if shocked, he had heard that name before. Gwen had mentioned it when he had been in the stocks, being pelted with food. She was the Lady Morgana's maid. Mulling this over the dragon continued to speak.

"But she faces many threats, from friend and foe alike."

"I don't see what this has to do with me," Merlin pointed out, whether this Morgana became queen or not, it was not his business. There was nothing that he could do to steer that. He wasn't about to play match maker with the Prince and a Lady.

"Everything," the dragon intoned. "Without you Morgana will never succeed. With you, there will be no Albion."

Merlin continued to stare, and shook his head at the dragon. "No, no you've got this wrong," there was no way that he would help unite the land of Albion. The dragon must be confused, he couldn't, he wasn't able to. He was a simple commoner.

"There is no right or wrong, only what is, and what isn't. None of us can chose our destiny Merlin, and none of us can escape it." The dragon flew off, leaving Merlin to stare in bewilderment.

As first days went, he thought heading out of the dungeon. Well, that had certainly been an interesting one.

Merlin woke the next morning to Gaius telling him to clean his room. The sleepy boy glanced around it, it wasn't that bad, he thought grumpily as he pulled himself out of the bed.

"Once you've done that I want you to get me some herbs," he listed off a small spiel that Merlin committed to memory, and held out a vial. "And deliver this to Morgana, poor girl's suffering from nightmares."

Merlin with his hand outstretched to take the vial, stopped. "Morgana?" he asked uncertainly.

Gaius raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes," he answered firmly, pushing the bottle towards him.

Merlin took it, and pulled on his boots. "Whose Morgana?" he asked conversationally, tucking the vial into a pocket so he wouldn't accidently drop it on his way from here to there.

"The Lady Morgana, she is the King's Ward."

The kings ward… Merlin thought with a nod. Well, that was curious. And to become Queen? As the kings ward it was quite likely she would marry Arthur. Good luck to her, he thought heading out of the room.

Merlin with his habit of entering a room without knocking, entered her room. Morgana stood in the center of the room, her back to the door, fiddling with her hair. "You know I've been thinking about Arthur," she said, moving behind the changing screen. "I wouldn't touch him with a lance pole." Either would I, Merlin thought, wondering what to do with the vial in his hand. "Pass me that dress will you Gwen?"

Merlin glanced around the room, what dress? He thought, and then, I'm not Gwen. But he kept silent, and spotted a dress laid out. "I mean, the man's a total jouster. And just because I'm the King's ward, that doesn't mean I have to accompany him to the feast does it?" she asked as Merlin placed the dress onto the screen.

Merlin wisely kept quiet, and was very grateful when Gwen appeared and he could leave her to help Morgana, as he left the room. At least someone shared his sentiments on the prince.

"Why do I have to go?" Merlin grumbled as he disappeared into his room to put on some clean clothes. It wasn't like he was a noble, he had no place at this feast that the king was hosting. Gaius chose wisely not to answer him.

The two entered the hall, and Merlin's gaze landed on Arthur, who was wrongly, talking about the fight that the two had had previously. His knights laughed at whatever he was saying, and Merlin turned his attention away from him. If he was going to come to this feast, he might as well enjoy himself, even if he was here to work, as Gaius's assistant.

All of the men in the hall turned to stare when Morgana entered the room. She looked stunning, and with a half smile walked through the hall and stopped by another Lady. Merlin watched her walk past, ignoring Gaius' scold that he was there to work.

"She looks great doesn't she?" Gwen holding a jug had walked over towards Merlin, and they both glanced at Morgana, who was now talking to Arthur, who had walked over to talk to her.

"Yeah," Merlin agreed glancing at her again. She did.

"Some people are just born to be Queen."

Merlin turned towards her sharply. "What?" he asked, Gwen couldn't mean… surely she couldn't.

"Not that I'd want to be her," Gwen said cheerily. "Who'd want to marry Arthur?" her gaze drifted towards the prince and the king's ward, and she smiled at her Lady.

Merlin chuckled. He liked Gwen, she was nice. He hoped that he got more time to hang around her. With a cheery smile she picked up her jug again, and disappeared to go and fill up some glasses.

Merlin trailed around the hall, enjoying the sight of his first proper feast. No body spoke to him, but he didn't mind, he quite liked being in the background and just watching the event. Once or twice he felt tempted to go up and talk to Morgana, but he didn't. She was always surrounded by someone, Arthur, other Ladies, hopeful suitors, and he didn't think they would appreciate him just bumbling over.

The hall settled when Uther strolled in, head held high and regal he smiled openly at his guests. "We have enjoyed twenty years or peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdom and myself many pleasures. But few can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Mora," he gestured towards Lady Helen, and the group of people in the hall applauded, and everyone took their seats.

Lady Helen started to sing, and Merlin's first thought was that she was a good singer. Though he had little to compare that too, there had not been anyone famed for singer back in Ealdor.

He glanced around suspicious as he saw people start to slump in their seats, slowly dozing off. Quickly he shoved his hands over his ears and watched in horror as cobwebs started to coat everyone in the room. Luckily she had not noticed that he was still awake.

He noticed her predatory gaze upon the Prince and frowned, as she stepped forward, pulling a dagger out of her clothes. He might not like the Prince, he thought as he watched her, scanning around the room, but he had to do something.

His eyes caught on the chandelier, which conveniently she was standing right under. Concentrating on it, with a flash of golden eyes he sent it slamming into her back, causing her to collapse onto the ground.

The occupants of the hall slowly started the stir, blinking in confusion at the cobwebs that surrounded them. Uther and Arthur rose to their feet, their gaze on the haggard women lying on the floor. Merlin recognised her as the one from the courtyard on his first day here, she must have taken the form of Lady Helen.

Lady Helen stirred and picked up her dagger, before anyone had any chance to do anything she flung it directly at Arthur. Who seemed to lose his battle wits, and just stared as it came. Dodge it you fool, Merlin thought desperately, but the prince just watched it come.

With a flash of his eyes he slowed time, and charged at Arthur, yanking him down onto the ground as the dagger imbedded itself straight into the chair. Merlin and Arthur fell to the ground, their eyes fixed on the chair. Getting to their feet Merlin turned his attention to the lady dying under the chandelier.

Arthur's shocked gaze was fixed on Merlin. As was Uther's when he walked over, but his was mingled with gratitude. Merlin stared nervously at Uther, hoping that he hadn't noticed the fact that he had used magic. He didn't want to die.

As he walked back to his room later that evening, Merlin reflected on the fact that that wasn't the reward he had been hoping for. If he was going to be rewarded, a better one would be for him to not have to put up with the prat of a prince.

"But...that was magic,."

"And now, it seems, we finally found a use for it."

"Ah, no."

"Perhaps that's its purpose."

"My destiny."

"Merlin. Prince Arthur wants you right away."

"Your destiny is calling, better find out what he wants."

As Merlin left the room, he reflected on Gaius' words and shook his head. But it wasn't Arthur who was his destiny, he thought as he headed towards his room. It was Morgana. Perhaps Morgana and Arthur were to be joined, but Morgana was the Once and Future Queen who would unite all of Albion, and that was where lay his destiny.