Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Merlin bbc

Written for my Paranormal25 Prompt Table. Prompt #60: Grimoire.

Is intended to be a short prequel to another story I have planned, though I am not sure when said story will be posted :(

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"I thought Isobel's spell book had been destroyed." Chloe announced, browsing through the old tome with interest.

"Grimoire, Chloe, Grimoire." Lana corrected from where she was cooking.

"Whatever it is, what's it still doing here?" Lois Lane gave the book a suspicious glare. "Last time that thing was around I dressed like a slut and lost all memories of what happened during that time."

"We're not going to be possessed this time." Lana snorted. "Stop worrying about it."

"I still want to know why its here in my hands if it got destroyed." Chloe murmured, eyeing the contents of the pages.

"She had a copy, made one before whatever happened to de-possess us." Lana replied easily. "I found it some weeks ago in the apartment by chance and, I don't know, its just, what do you think?"

"I think you should burn it." Lois was quick to announce. "Nothing good has ever come from a spell book."

"Grimoire." Lana corrected patiently once more. "It's a part of my heritage, Lois, I'm not going to destroy it. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to use it either."

Chloe zoned out on the girls, unable to look away from the design of the dragon on the page.

Beneath it read Pendragon Crest.

Her fingers trailed over the image, feeling entranced and not knowing why.

Flashes raced before her eyes, all confusing and too close together that she couldn't focus on any. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart hammered in her chest, and she was feeling dizzy.

That was why the blonde never noticed when the dragon's head and neck raised from the paper until it'd chomped down on her finger, her blood turning the whole dragon design crimson.

Chloe cried out and dropped the book looking down at her bitten finger in terrified, confused shock.

But she didn't have much time to wonder what the fuck was happening, because her back was on fire, and the room was spinning.

She fell to the ground, screaming, as the skin on her back seemed to bubble.

Lana and Lois' voices blended in worry as they tried to make their way to her.

But before they could reach her, everything went black.

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Arthur Pendragon kicked at a bush in frustration.

He didn't know how much longer he could do this. How much farther he could push himself to please his father, to please the kingdom. Night and day he strived to live up to everyone' high expectations of him, but it was wearing him down rapidly, and it was only thanks to these rare moments when he was able to escape the castle to hunt on his own for some hours that he was able to keep such a straight face when his father was being at his worst.

Also, the fact that he'd been having those dreams again wasn't helping.

He closed his eyes.

Unlike Morgana, who suffered from nightmares, he suffered from fantasies that ran rampant and taunting in his mind. Of pale white skin, golden hair, and green eyes sharp with intelligence. Every night he dreamt of this woman, whom he was beginning to believe had bewitched him without his ever having set his eyes on her, and the ache in him was growing, the desire...the frustration. He knew that he was acting more of a prat than usual, had heard the complaints from the servants, from the knights when they thought he wasn't listening. It'd made him want to show them just how bad of a mood he could get. But instead he'd preferred to go hunting instead, and take his anger out on the shrubbery.

Suddenly there was an explosion of light in front of him.

The prince turned away and covered his eyes until the light disappeared, and when it did he turned, and froze.

There, lying naked on the ground, burned and bruised, was the girl.

Pulling off his cloak, wondering what sort of magic this was, he covered her nakedness before allowing himself a good look of her face.

It was her.

It really was.

Her hair was shorter than in his dreams, but it was most definitely her.

This made for a very hard decision.

She'd obviously arrived by magic.

She was probably a witch.

She needed to die.

But.

But...

Arthur, bending on his knees over her, let out an aggravated growl.

He didn't want to kill her.

The girl whimpered in her sleep and turned on her side.

And that was when he saw it.

Blue eyes widened in shock and he pulled the cloak up from her back, revealing more and more of the intricate dragon crest on her back. It wasn't the Pendragon Crest that they had on the flags and shields, but the secret Pendragon crest, those only the spouse and heirs of the king had ever seen.

So how...how could it have ended up tattooed on the back of this girl?

The last time he'd seen this...

Eyes narrowed, Arthur reached for her carefully, making sure to keep his cloak around her as he lifted her into his arms.

She was light and fit snugly in his arms.

Arthur took in a deep breath.

He needed to see Gaius.

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"Your majesty..." Gaius begun.

"She should be killed. Immediately." Uther snapped, not sure as to why Gaius hadn't realized this. "According to Arthur's account she appeared by magic, her wounds have all miraculously healed. Obviously she must be a witch, and you know-!"

"My King." Gaius surprised him by interrupting. "While it isn't natural, her healing, it wasn't magic."

Uther looked up. "What do you mean?"

"There was no spell, no incantation, and she was unconscious. No witch could perform such impressive healing as that girl did on herself while being unconscious."

The king frowned. "What are you saying, Gaius?"

"I'm saying My King, that she is not a witch, but I do not believe that she is human either."

"What else is there?" Uther sat down on one of the seats in Gaius' room, anger replaced by shock and a little confusion.

"That is not all." Gaius cleared his throat. "You will want to see her back."

Uther frowned. "Her back?"

Gaius motioned with his head for the king to follow him, and he led the way to the small room in which the girl was sleeping.

Uther, who had had yet to see the girl, froze in the doorway.

The court physician nodded. "She does bare a striking resemblance to the late queen."

Uther just continued to look at the girl with shock.

"And that's not all, Sire." Gaius easily pushed the girl slightly so that she moved onto her stomach. And then he raised the back of the large shirt he'd placed on her, revealing the mark beneath.

"That's impossible." Uther hissed, storming into the room to stare down at the emblem he knew oh so well. "The whole family was killed by Nimueh!"

"Apparently, not the whole family, my lord." Gaius let the shirt fall from between his fingers. "If you remember, their youngest daughter, Guinevere, bore this mark on her, inflicted by Nimueh herself as punishment for the child's strong ties to the Pendragon family." Gaius's eyes narrowed. "Young Guinevere's body was never found amidst the massacre."

Uther stepped back. "Are you saying that this girl could be the last living heir of King Leodegrance?"

"She very might be..." Gaius turned his gaze towards the girl. "Prince Arthur's fiancee."

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The small girl with golden ringlets giggled as she ran up to the slightly older, golden-haired boy sitting by himself in the field, watching her intently.

"Look Arthur!" She thrust a bouquet of flowers into his face. "Isn't it beautiful?"

The boy made a face at the bouquet. "They're just flowers, Guinevere."

"But my garden doesn't have flowers like this." The five year old pouted.

Arthur looked at the flowers disdainfully.

Guinevere sighed and lowered the bouquet. "I guess I'm being silly."

He looked up at her in surprise at the change in her tone. "Of course not!" He replied rapidly. "Don't frown, Guinnie."

She looked up at him and smiled softly before wincing.

"Is something the matter?" Arthur stood rapidly, eyes narrowing in protective worry. "Are you in pain?"

She looked away. "I am fine."

Arthur's blue eyes narrowed. "Guinevere? What is wrong?" His voice was young yet commanding. "Are you hurt?"

The child, face pale, turned and began to walk away.

Arthur watched her go with narrowed eyes before heading off after her. His longer strides easily matched and overpowered hers, grabbing onto her shoulder to stop her. Yet he let go of her as if he'd been burnt as she cried out in agony and crumbled to the ground.

"Guinevere?"

And that was when he realized that there was blood staining the back of her dress.

Horror entered those blue eyes.

And then they narrowed, dark.

"Who did this to you?"

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

Small body trembling with fury, Arthur pulled over the neck of her shirt, breath escaping in a horrified hiss when he saw the outline of a bloody black dragon's wing.

Gasping, Arthur came awake, soaked in sweat.

It was that memory again.

Standing, he took in a deep breath as he went to the mirror and looked out at he moon-bathed landscape.

He'd tried repressing everything about those days...and what happened otherwise.

It'd been years since he'd dreamt of those last fateful days.

And yet...the girl...the one from his dreams, she bore the same tattoo inflected so cruelly onto Guinevere.

Could it...?

He took in a deep breath.

His father had ordered that the girl be allowed to work in the castle once she awoke, and that in itself made Arthur wary.

The girl had appeared by obvious means of magic, the fact that his father would let her live, and order the details of her arrivals be silenced was suspicious.

What if...?

No.

Arthur shook his head, images of the massacred remains of King Leodegrance's body and those of his family.

Impossible.

He fought with the sickness he felt every time he remembered walking dumbly into the bloodied hall, young eyes wide.

That was the first time he'd truly realized how evil magic was.

Looking out at the courtyard, Arthur sighed, turning to look at his front door.

He wanted to see the nameless girl again.

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"Give her back!" Lois screamed at the Grimoire, shaking it viciously. "GIVE ME HER BACK!"

"LOIS!" Lana tore the book from her hands. "If you destroy it we'll never figure out what happened and how to reverse it!"

Lois sank down onto her seat, gazing in front of her. "I told you nothing good could come from a spell book."

This time, as Lana sat down next to Lois, it didn't cross her mind to correct her.

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