Author's Note:

Um, Hi! So, this is my first little venture into the world of writing Merlin fanfiction... I will say that the first chapter is mostly just a base and more like a prologue than anything. It features a lack of all the characters you know and love but I promise they're coming soon! ... You just have to wait until the second chapter.

I don't know why, but I was really hesitant to post this, which is odd, because I've been writing fanfiction for something like six or seven years now and I've never been so hesitant to post something before. I really hope that everyone likes it but I'm not above accepting constructive criticism (but flames will be used to roast marshmallows). So, if you ever notice any horrendous plot holes or terrible, horrible characterization, please let me know and I will do my best to fix them :D

Now, the part that, really, no one wants to do but they have to because they don't want to be sued...

Disclaimer: I, Writing2Death, in no way, shape or form own anything associated with Merlin. I do, however, own this story and Jenny, Adrianna, and Lyssa... and all of the other original characters.

And last but not least...

Review, please. Let me know what you think and if I should continue or not. This story just kind of implanted itself in my brain, held me hostage, and demanded I write so... feedback would be welcome and appreciated.

Now: Read, Enjoy, and click the small button that the bottom to leave a review!

-- Chapter One: Shattering Glass --

Do you know those times when you're half asleep and half awake and you've just had a terrifying dream? The dream lingers on the fringes of your mind and you're heart's beating way too fast and you can't calm down. Then the terrible moment when you think that it wasn't just a dream passes and you open your eyes. And bright, hard reality rushes in and you can't help but feel relief with every fibre of your being.

This was not one of those times.

I squeezed my eyes shut in horror and opened them again, expecting a different result. I pinched myself hard enough to bruise. It still wasn't gone.

What the hell was going on?

The day started out completely, totally, perfectly normal. Honestly. I swear to you, I'm not lying.

"Hey, Jenny! Over here!"

That's me. Jenny or Jeanette Styles.

I turned to see one of my friends from school, which definitely wasn't abnormal, seeing as I was on my way to school. "Hey," I greeted as I pushed the double doors open and wrinkled my nose. The Cafe Ladies were making their Cafe Cookies again. The whole hallway reeked of chocolate and grease.

"Are you excited about the Ancient History trip today?" Lyssa asked, falling into step beside me.

I gasped and I could have sworn people in China may have heard it. "Oh my God. That's today?" I said, stopping in my tracks.

Lyssa looked at me as if I'd grown an extra head. "Haven't you been counting down the days since day one?"

I pursed my lips, looking slightly embarrassed. "I was, on my calandar." I responded. "But last week, I accidently doused it in Orange pop."

She looked at me for a moment then she sighed, an affectionate and slightly insulting smile on her face. "Only you, Jenny."

I grinned in delight as I boarded the bus to the museum. I honestly couldn't wait. I guess I'm a bit of a nerd like that. Not like those science ones who have nothing better to do with their time than experiment and cause explosions, but the history kind. The cool kind. Really, I spent my time researching legends and learning as much as I could ... I didn't really make that point very well, did I?

I took the very front seat of the bus and slid over next to the window, squishing my backpack in under my feet. Lyssa slid into the space next to me and then proceeded to stare at me like I was insane. This may or may not have had to do with the fact that I was shaking from head to toe with excitement.

"Little too much coffee?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, shut up." I answered, smiling broadly.

"Quiet down," Mr. Sloan said flatly, looking rather bored. "Let me take role call and then you can chatter all you like."

I smiled at him; Mr. Sloan was my all time favourite teacher. He wasn't one of those teachers who hate their jobs, he was a real history buff. But, he only ever took interest in students who actually liked history... I guess you could call me a bit of a teacher's pet.

"Jenny Styles?"

"Here!" I said brightly. A pair of girls behind me snickered and Lyssa looked at me sympathetically. I kept the smile plastered to my face, pretending not to notice.

Mr. Sloan continued down the list lazily until he finally reached Lyssa's name. "Alyssa Velusi?"
"Present." Lyssa answered absently, now studying her nails.

It wasn't my fault, really, I promise. I couldn't change who I was. People just didn't like that I was a teacher's pet. They generally thought I was just weird. There was taunting and gossip and most of the time I just made believe it wasn't there but once in a while, I slipped and the sneering got past the barrier.

But Lyssa was already there. Mostly apathetic, it was surprising that she'd be such a good friend but she was. Lyssa was always there for me.

"Ignore them," Lyssa muttered so the airheads behind me couldn't hear, proving my previous point. But it was already out of mind.

I was itching to talk to someone about the trip. Lyssa could care less, though; Ancient History was nothing more than an easy elective for her. And obviously the girls in the seat behind me were out of the question so I found myself feeling very secluded.

When the bus finally started moving, I tried to pass the three hours by daydreaming. We were going to one of the biggest and best museums around. I couldn't wait. In class, we were studying the dark ages, focussing on the witch burnings and how everything was so chaotic back then. How religion ruled science and radical thinking was prohibited.

I particularly loved the Arthurian legends. Historically and realistically, they didn't really make any sense, the early stories conflicting and not coinciding with reality during those times, mixing and adapting characters so many times that they ended up as completely different people, and that's not even mentioning the magic... But there was something about them that was completely magical; the sublime, my English teacher would say. Something about them, despite being so completely unrealistic, that made them real.

Of course, I thought, bringing myself down from my small high, we weren't exactly studying the Arthurian legends. Because they weren't really history. It was just one of my guilty, pleasurable hobbies that Mr Sloan was willing to converse with me about now and again.

I stared out the window, vaguely aware that Lyssa beside me had dozed off, her head resting on my shoulder. It was raining now, the drops splattering the window and running down the glass. I sighed and looked away, hauling my bookbag onto my lap and digging through it to find my notebook.

The girls behind me snickered again and I could tell they were still watching me, knowing that when I'm bored I usually fall back to my second favourite hobby: writing.

I opened the battered notebook and turned to a clean page. I wrote in purple ink the words I'd written a variation of so many times before.

I wonder what it would be like to have lived back then...

The museum was huge with cold stone walls and shining floors. I was so excited that I could barely contain myself, babbling at a million miles a minute to Lyssa, who looked so bored that she could fall asleep where she stood.

First on the agenda was listening to a lecture on the witch burnings. It was interesting and I avidly took notes in my battered little notebook, thinking that I could use some of the material in one of my many stories, or that I could ponder on it later.

I was slightly distracted, though, eager to get to the tour. It was just a tour of the medieval sections of the museum but the class was free to wander for a period of time, when the tour was over and provided they meet up at the cafe when that time was up. I could not wait.

At lunch break, just before the scheduled tour, I sat at one of the cafeteria tables with Lyssa. I was oddly quiet, thinking and even she seemed to notice.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked.

I shrugged, not really sure. "Writing." I answered after a minute.

She nodded, knowing that it was difficult for me to talk about my writing.

Lyssa sighed, "I'm going to get food. Want anything?"

Fishing in my pocket for change, I said, "Orange pop. Thanks!" I called as she took the money.

"What do you think?" I heard a voice say as a chair scraped out beside me. It was Mr Sloan.

I grinned broadly, "It's great." I answered honestly. "I can't wait for the tour."

"Hoping to see something that reminds you of those legends?" he asked, a somewhat knowing look coming over his features.

"Something like that," I admitted. "I just finished reading The Once and Future King by TH White," I explained, "And so..."

He smiled slightly as he attacked his lunch. "You're going to make a good teacher someday," he said. "It's good that you're so enthusiastic about something that you like."

"Thanks." I muttered, embarrassed.

It was then that I saw Lyssa across the Cafe, waving at me to join her at another empty table. I understood that she didn't really want to be seen with Mr Sloan. She wasn't quite the teacher's pet I was. I excused myself and got up, making my way through the maze of tables and chairs.

"Hey," I greeted with a smile and she handed me my Orange pop. Lyssa rolled her eyes affectionately as I opened it with the sound of Carbon dioxide being released.

"You little nerd," she accused playfully.

"I never denied it." I laughed.

She cracked a smile. Lyssa was probably one of the prettiest people I knew. She had an angular face, free from any freckles and framed by a curtain of dark, straight hair. And her eyes were wide and blue. It was a shame she was such an indifferent person, really. It didn't make me love her any less, though.

"So how are the legends coming?"

And my insides froze. I should have expected this.

Brittany Rolland and Adrianna Sparks took the seats opposite us, grinning mischievously.

Lyssa rolled her eyes, "You don't have anything better to do?" She sneered.

I was quiet.

Adrianna smirked, "You wish you were born then, don't you, Jenny?"

I glared at her, wondering how she knew my deepest, darkest secret. Even Lyssa didn't know that. I felt my face flush darkly.

"No," I responded defiantly.

"Don't lie." Brittany snickered. "You left your notebook in the lecture hall." She dug through her bag for it and slid it across the table.

And it was mine, battered and blue, ripped, worn, and well loved. I felt tears in my eyes. "That was private," I said, looking up at them. "Why would you do that?"

Brittany ignored me, "You really don't like that Guinevere character, do you?"

I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore her. I couldn't talk about this with someone who would mock me.

"Shut up," Lyssa said fiercely, glaring her hardest, an ugly expression on her pretty face.

"She's the most selfish character I've ever read about. How could someone do that to someone they care about, even if they weren't quite in love with them?" Brittany said, coming very close to the words I'd written after reading The Ill-Made Knight. "If you were Guinevere--"

I stood up and snatched my notebook off the table. "Shut up," I said and swallowed thickly. Without another word, I stalked from the cafe.

I didn't enjoy the tour as much I as I thought I would. My head was too full of thoughts.

Lyssa ended up having to come and find me. I'd been staring in the bathroom mirror for the better part of half an hour. I looked normal enough, I told myself, so why was I so abnormal?

It was true. There was nothing abormal about about my dark blonde hair, always kept in a ponytail or my blue eyes. So, why was I so different?

"It's the freckles," Lyssa had muttered, hugging me from behind, and I realized I had said it out loud.

I had sniffed and wiped my eyes, and smiled. "Of course it's the freckles," I said.

So, I trailed after the class, hugging my notebook to my chest, not willing to let it out of my sight ever again and listening to the explanations half-heartedly, wishing very hard for my wish to come true and ignoring the snickers of Brittany and Adrianna.

The tour was over quicker than I thought it would be as well. But mostly, I was too distracted to notice the time.

Lyssa stayed by my side loyally, though I don't think she would have been racing to see the sights even if I wasn't upset.

Only when the tour was over did Lyssa grab my wrist and pull me out of the room toward another exhibit. I could hear Mr Sloan yelling after the class as they raced in all directions to be back before the bus left 'Or there'd be serious consequences!'

"What are you doing?" I asked exasperatedly as she stopped in the first room in a series with an exhibit featuring furnature from the Renaissance period.

Lyssa rolled her eyes, "Adrianna was looking at you rather predatorially and it was disturbing," she explained.

"... Right." I responded, running my fingers over the wood of a dresser that was near to me. It was clearly old and I smiled at being close to something that had so much history attached to it.

"Anyway, I made a collective decision and decided that she shouldn't be anywhere near you, especially after what Brittany said earlier."

I closed my eyes, moving onto the next piece, an old mirror, and appreciating it thoroughly. Here it comes, I thought, she was going to ask. I made a small, I-don't-wish-to-comment-on-that noise in the back of my throat.

Lyssa pushed on, "So... what did she mean?" she asked hesitantly. "Do you really wish you were born in that time?"

I swallowed and turned to her. "Yes."

"Jeanette, there, you are!"

Both of us looked up. Adrianna was standing in the doorway of the room, looking slightly relieved.

"Go crawl into a hole and die," Lyssa said pleasantly.

Adrianna pursed her lips. "Could I talk to you?" she asked me, shooting an annoyed look at Lyssa. "Alone?"

Lyssa scoffed but didn't say anything.

My lips parted but I wasn't sure how to answer. Finally, I found my voice. "Lyssa can stay," I said. It was't really worded the way I wanted it to be but Adrianna got the message. I could tell Lyssa was smirking.

"Fine." Adrianna agreed reluctantly through gritted teeth.

As she began talking, I moved closer to her, feeling that I should at least pay attention to what she was saying.

"Jenny, about what Brittany said earlier, I didn't know that you'd get so upset, I mean --"

And then several things happened at once.

My foot caught on a snag in the carpet on the floor and I tumbled forward into Adrianna. Lyssa gasped and tried to catch me but it was too late. Adrianna and I were sent crashing into the mirror I'd been examining previously and it exploded into a thousand glass shards in every direction.

The only thing I could register was that I was sprawled uncomfortably over the girl who'd tormented me for years and that there was a rather large cut on my cheek that was bleeding profusely.

The next thing I registered, when I looked up, was that we definitely were not in the museum anymore.