A/N: I don't own Merlin...nor any other characters or settings featured.

Arthur would live. Merlin would die, but it would all be worth it because Arthur would live. At least, that's what Merlin had been constantly telling himself for the past two days. Now that Arthur had actually drunk the water, there could be no chickening out and changing his mind. Arthur would live. Merlin would die, but—

Merlin's mantra was abruptly interrupted when a hand darted out from a nearby alcove and pulled him inside. "Please, Merlin, you must beware—this is only the beginning," Morgana said urgently.

Merlin had no idea how to respond to that, so he pulled his wrist out of her grip and hurried after Gaius.

A few weeks later, Arthur sent Merlin to tell the diggers to stop digging in the middle of the damn night! Merlin had only made it halfway to the tunnels when he was pulled into an alcove yet again.

"Please, Merlin," Morgana begged. "I can't sleep, do something!"

Merlin carefully extricated himself from her grip. "Don't worry, Morgana, Arthur just sent me to tell the diggers to stop."

Morgana nodded and relaxed. "Good."

Several weeks later, it happened again. "Merlin, would you tell Arthur to come to my chambers?"

Merlin shot her a look of confusion. "Why don't you tell him yourself?"

Morgana giggled. "I've got the perfect prank planned. Just don't let him catch on…"

Merlin smirked, always happy for an excuse to make a fool out of Arthur. "Anything else I can do to help?"

"Merlin! I've lit my chambers on fire again!"

"…so why did you come halfway across the castle to find me, when you must have passed more than a dozen other servants who are equally capable of putting out fires?"

"Because it was…you know…it again! I can't have anyone finding out I'm a…you know!"

"Or you could tell them you knocked a candle over?"

Morgana paused, looking as if this had never occurred to her. "That's actually not a bad idea. Thank you, Merlin!" She merrily skipped out of the alcove.

"Merlin, have you seen my bracelet? I can't find it anywhere."

"Why would I know where your bracelet is? I can barely keep track of Arthur's stuff!"

"Merlin, have you seen my hairbrush?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Gwen? I wouldn't even know what your hairbrush looks like!"

"Merlin, have you seen my purple-and-dark-blue dress? Gwen said you took it."

"Oh. Um…moths. It was infested with moths. Had to burn it." Merlin hurried out of the alcove, trying to hide the tears in his eyes.

"Morgana!" Arthur yelped. "What are you lurking around for?"

Morgana released his wrist. "Oops. I thought you were Merlin."

Arthur gave her a wary look. "You were lurking around in order to pull Merlin into a hidden alcove? Morgana, please don't tell me you're up to something that will make my father serve up Merlin's head on a silver platter."

"What? No! I just wanted to ask him what he thinks of my new horse!"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Really." His voice took on a warning edge. "There had better not be anything going on between you and Merlin."

"Of course there isn't!" Morgana objected, sounding offended.

"Merlin!"

Merlin wrenched his wrist out of her grip and huffed in annoyance. "Morgana, I am very busy right now!"

"I know, but I had a dream that I pulled you into this alcove!"

"…you couldn't have waited until tomorrow?"

"…okay, fair point."

"Merlin! I had another dream!"

"Now what?"

Three giant, snarling rabbits ran past their alcove and viciously attacked several unfortunate servants. "That. You would have died if I hadn't grabbed you just now!"

"What the hell are those things?" Merlin demanded incredulously. He cautiously looked around the edge of the alcove, only to see that the rabbits had dropped dead for no apparent reason. "Are you sure you had a dream last night as opposed to me dreaming right now?"

"No, you're definitely awake," Morgana said dismissively.

"MERLIN!" yelled a voice in the distance.

Merlin sighed. "Yep, I'm awake."

"Merlin, my sash came untied, would you tie it again?" Morgana turned to allow Merlin to reach her sash.

Merlin felt his cheeks turn bright red. "Morgana, you're a wonderful woman, but I really don't think I should be…"

"Say, have you met Sir Caridoc?" Morgana interrupted. She sighed dreamily. "So handsome…do you think he'll invite me to the feast tomorrow?"

"Not if he sees me tying your sash."

"Good point." Morgana marched straight back out of the alcove and promptly tripped over her trailing sash. She landed right in the arms of Sir Caridoc. Merlin drew as far back into the shadows as he could, not wanting to be seen with the partially-dressed king's ward.

"Merlin! Look what I found!"

Merlin pulled his wrist out of her grip and started to huff in annoyance, then he saw what Morgana was so excited about. Where the back of the alcove should have been, there was instead a shimmering curtain that looked into a snow-covered glade. Merlin's jaw dropped.

"Come on!" Morgana urged, pulling Merlin through the curtain. A small lantern flickered on top of an iron lamppost several paces away. Morgana approached the lantern and gazed up at it in awe.

Odd, shuffling footsteps sounded behind them. Merlin turned around to see a strange little man with the legs and horns of a goat shuffling toward them. The faun looked as surprised to see them as they were to see him. "Bless my soul! A Son of Adam and a Daughter of Eve!"

"We'll never get my father out of the castle," Arthur muttered worriedly, yawning as the sleeping spell began to affect him.

Morgana's eyes lit up. "I know a place where we can take him!"

Fifteen minutes later, Uther was lying unconscious in the snow, a large talking lion had lifted the enchantment from Morgana, Arthur was seriously reconsidering his stance on magic, and Morgana was very angry with her sister. Thank heaven for alcoves—just think what could have happened if Merlin had consulted the dragon instead.

A/N: For those of you who have read my other fic "The Dragon, the Witch and the Wardrobe", this is the universe that alt!Merlin and alt!Morgana came from.