AN: I've been toying with the idea of a modern reincarnation fic for a while. I did a one-shot involving it and really wanted to make it into a full length. And then I thought, why not make it dark? There are little to none involving Arthur and Gwen. And then this came out. :P But please, tell me what you think! And excuse any mistakes, whether grammar related or cultural. The updating schedule for this will be a bit erratic. At this point, I'm thinking once or twice a month.

Disclaimer: BBC owns "Merlin".

"It's only forever, not long at all" - David Bowie

She could hear distant howls somewhere off in the night. Although far off, the noise sounded much closer than the last few had.

It wouldn't be long now.

She tried once more to fight against the restraints that bound her to the solid oak, yet found that the ropes refused to move. Wearily she rested one cheek against the cold bark and closed her eyes.

Just a little while longer and this would all be over.

A snap of a twig off to her left caused her to jump, despite her decision to remain strong in the face of this peril.

More snaps followed along with a few clicks of canine jaws.

She closed her eyes tightly and turned her face fully toward the tree.

She wondered what he would do when he found out about her demise.

Would he weep?

Would he be glad?

She heard the spring of a wolf behind her against the leaf-strewn ground and braced herself for the feeling of having her flesh teared from her bones.

But instead of the searing pain that should have followed, she awoke screaming.

"Jen?"

Her eyes shot open, catching sight of her roommate leaning over her. Concern was etched across the second-year's face as Jennifer Grance pulled herself into a sitting position. After taking a few gulps of air and, realizing that the harrowing incident had in fact been a dream, she turned her attention to the scared girl beside her.

"I'm fine Kat," she answered, running a hand through her dark curls. She cleared her throat, leaning across her night table for the bottle of water she had left there the previous evening, and sipped from it. The water running down her parched throat gave her a moment to think. What had that been? She had had nightmares before but never anything so...lifelike. And wolves? She had been terrified of dogs since an early age but she had never seen a wolf in her life.

She capped the bottle before plunking the plastic back onto the table.

It wouldn't have bothered her much if it had been an isolated incident, a dream that had never happened before.

But she had been witnessing the same scene for about a month now.

It wasn't every night, but at least twice a week she found herself in that freezing forest, waiting to be mauled.

And frankly it terrified her.

Finding that her breathing had returned somewhat to normal she forced a smile upon her face to reassure her worried friend.

"I'm fine, really."

Katherine seemed skeptical but refrained from questioning her more.

"You've been so stressed with the Senior Dig coming," she said reassuringly, referencing the final project of Jen's study program. As a student of archeology it was the highlight of her years at university and would be what, hopefully, got her recommended to a good job.

"That must be it," Jen nodded, not wanting to bother the girl further.

Having been staring at her bedding in thought and not looking at her friend, she missed the small box being thrown at her.

She looked down at the offending box with the askew bow before splitting into a grin.

"Happy 21st. Now are you sure you're alright? I'm not going to be the one to answer to your mum when you're at the hospital from a breakdown," her friend asked as Jen unwrapped the colored package.

"Oh shush."

Pulling away the wrappings to discover a box of chocolate truffles beneath, she smiled.

"Why would I worry the best roommate ever?" she teased, opening the box and popping one into her mouth.

Healthy breakfast be damned.

After the bit of sweetness met her previously empty stomach she smiled at her friend.

"Thanks, Kat."

The psychology student beamed at her friend' reaction to her gift.

"Don't thank me just yet; I'm still dragging you to quiz night against the boys tonight."

Jen rolled her eyes before placing the box of chocolates on her night table She swung out of bed, switching her alarm off and glancing forlornly at the five minutes she might have been able to have spent in slumber.

"I'm not repeating last year," she protested, remembering quite well what the second year student had made her do. "Anotherpint,anotherpint," she mimicked the blond sitting cross-legged on the bed across from her.

"Just because you're a lightweight-"

Jen launched a pillow at the girl before hurriedly picking up her bathroom caddy. She gathered up her clothing before ducking at the retaliating pillow. Laughing, the birthday girl exited her dorm room, her nightmare nearly forgotten.

–

The woman gazed into the reflecting pond and slowly twirled her fingers in the water. The image of the twenty-one, curly haired young woman melted into that of the dark haired sorceress sitting before the pond. Morgana withdrew her had from the water before sitting back, staring at the opaque liquid,

Booted feet clicked against the stone floor behind her before stopping suddenly.

"She's a woman now, by this time's standard," she noted, not bothering to turn to address her brother.

"Are you still certain you wish to do this?"

A pause.

"Is that truly a question?" came the male response.

She sighed and finally turned to face the king.

"She might not forgive you; what will you do then?" She lifted herself from her perch upon the cold stone. She took in the sight of her younger brother, the lines of age and worry clear upon his features. A few wisps of gray infiltrated his honey colored hair. She too had the mark of time upon her visage although she did not look nearly as old as she had that day so long ago when she had carried him to the safety of Avalon.

The water of Avalon, with its magical properties, had kept both from falling into disrepair. They, along with the last remaining priests and priestess of the old religion, had not left the Isle of the Blest in hundreds of years...since Camelot had fallen.

And why should they have?

There had been no saving Arthur's shattered dream whilst he was hanging to life by a thread. If it hadn't been for her quick thinking, after years of having regretted the actions she had taken against him, he might have died.

But by the time he had healed the war had been over and Albion torn apart.

Merlin gone.

His sons dead.

Guinevere killed.

"I've been watching her for twenty-one years, Morgana," he began, staring down into the clear water as if he could still see the love of his life once more.

"She needs to know the truth of what happened. Then we will be able to be together, and all will be righted."

He reluctantly tore his gaze from the water before settling upon his sister.

"We will go through with the plan this week. The arrangements have been made."

She nodded, unsure still whether or not interrupting the young woman's life was the best thing to do, but refrained from commenting.

The old Morgana would have questioned her brother outright, shot down his plan. But years of living with the knowledge that she had deceived Arthur, had tried to kill him... She only wished to support him, to amend what had happened.

She watched as he strode away from her, pausing beside the rose bushes that dotted the path that led from the pool to the half-destroyed citadel.

He reached a bare hand to the red petals, touching them as gently as if they were made of the finest silk.

"Birthdays warrant a gift," he commented, a ghost of a smile crossing his features. The gesture felt almost foreign to him after so many years.

He glanced at his sister, retaining his slight grin before striding back to the citadel.

She watched him go, sighed, and took the path in the opposite direction. The stone walk eventually wound its way to the the perimeter of the isle where the water met the shore. Morgana nimbly walked upon the damp soil and knelt before the water. Cupping her hands she allowed the liquid to fill the makeshift cup before sipping at it.

Closing her eyes she concentrated on the coolness of the liquid sliding down her throat.

After a moment or two she opened her eyes once more and gently pressed her fingertips to her face.

The wrinkles of age had shrank back, revealing her once youthful features. Even though she could not see them, she knew that the strands of gray that had formed at her temple had turned to jet black once more.

Twenty-two had been a good age, hadn't it?

"Happy birthday, love!"

Jen smiled as she rested her mobile between her shoulder and ear as she rifled through her side of the shared closet.

"Thanks mum, and for your present too. I can't wait to use it."

Her brown eyes flitted across her dorm room to her bed where the gifts from her family lay.

She had returned from her last class of the day and had been pleased to see that both her parents' gifts had been delivered to her room.

A heavily stamped box was closest to the foot of her bed, sent from her father on his travels, where she had found a delicate, lavender scarf handmade from Mexico. The gift had come with a rather long letter from her father from where he was stationed on his latest archeological dig. She hadn't seen him since he had left his small apartment in Westminster nearly four months before. His work often kept him away from herself and her twin brothers, which had never suited her mother. It had been a contributing factor to their marital separation...but that was rarely spoken of.

Her gaze finally alighted upon the envelope containing a round-trip train ticket.

As her school, Greywinds University, was located in Abergavenny, it was quite a distance from her mother's home in Shropshire. A train from Wales to the town of Bridgnorth was rather expensive which caused her to limit her trips home to school holidays.

"I'll use it as soon as I can," she reassured her mother as she withdrew a pair of darkwash jeans from the closet. A cautionary knock resounded against her door, following by her roommate's face peeping through a moment later. Seeing that Jen was not yet dressed to go out she pulled a silent face while the girl in question rolled her eyes.

"I've gotta go mum, but tell Liam and Al I love them, ok?"

She carried on for a few moments more before canceling the call on her mobile.

"I told everyone we'd meet them in fifteen minutes," she explained, searching through her makeup bag as Jennifer pulled a gray cardigan from their closet.

"All I need is five minutes," the archeology student insisted as she slid the door shut.

Katherine shot her a look of doubt before forming her glossed lips into a teasing smile.

"Jamie will be there," she commented, watching as Jen blushed. The student plucked a navy blue sun top from her closet before sliding the door closed.

"Jamie can do whatever he wants," she countered, trying desperately to rid her face of the extra blood that had rushed there.

"Well, if he had his way, it'd be you that he's 'doing'."

Jennifer ran a hand over her face before beginning to change her clothing.

"Please don't remind me. I mean, he's sweet, really-"

Katherine snorted as she flopped onto her bed, picking up a discarded gossip magazine and flipping through it.

"But...he's just very...overattentive?"

Her roommate dropped the magazine, laughing.

"He's a bit desperate is more like it."

Jen rolled her eyes as she slipped her arms into her cardigan. She paused at her night table to sift through her jewelery chest. It mostly consisted of costume jewelery and bangles that she had collected through the years, along with the random real gold or silver she had gotten from her parents. Finding a set of faux silver bangles she slipped them onto her left wrist.

Katherine picked herself off of her bed before tossing Jen her flats.

"You should really wear heels," she mused, watching as her roommate slipped into the shoes.

"You've got the legs for them."

Jen laughed before grabbing her bag.

"I'll have broken legs if I wear them," she insisted, leading the way from the room while her friend chuckled.

0o0o0o0

"How don't you know this one?"

Jen smiled to herself as the conversation from the next table over drifted to her. She nodded as the girl to her right, Linda, whispered the correct answer into her ear. She wrote it on the paper before her in careful script while trying not to laugh at the failed attempt of the boys adjacent.

"Who the fuck is that?"

A slap rang out where one of the men hit Rodger, the poor bloke assigned to write down the table's answers, on the shoulder.

The red head retaliated with a swift kick to Jack's shin but missed beneath the table, landing upon Jamie's. The archeology student bit his lip in order to keep from yelling at the two inept men at his table, and instead, grabbed the pencil and paper from Rodger.

"It's 'Sarah', you idiot! Not 'Stephanie Brightman"!"

Katherine choked on her second pint, having heard the last comment, before twisting in her seat to face the cluster of men.

"What does that make? One point for you boys?"

Jack, clearly trying to stay in Katherine's good books, stopped the scuffle he was having with Rodger.

"We'll see," he taunted, not catching the eye roll that Jamie had shot his way.

Jennifer laughed, having chosen that moment to look up, and accidentally made eye contact with Jamie.

She tried not to see the small smile that he gave her and instead quickly returned her gaze to the paper before her.

Linda, having seen the exchange, quickly turned the attention to the group across them once more.

"Boys, stop making a row and just hand in your paper, would you?"

To accentuate her point she slid their own paper from Jennifer's grasp and handed in to the waitress walking about.

The grumbling next table over ceased as Jack glumly handed over their own paper.

Jen took a small sip from her drink, placing it down next to Linda's first empty. She personally never had a good relationship, if one would call it that, with alcohol. Wine she could handle, but straight beer didn't really suit her. She had the memories of headaches and nausea to back it up.

Once their paper had been handed in, the three college students dragged their table over to the girls'. Katherine and Jack started to chatter while Linda excused herself, leaving the two boys and Jen. The birthday girl kept her eyes on her pint, hoping that neither would talk to her.

"How's your day going so far, Miss. Twenty-one?"

No such luck.

She forced a small smile onto her face as she looked up, seeing that the speaker was Jamie.

"Alright, I 'spose," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. She chuckled lightly, a bit of a nervous habit, as she gestured to Katherine beside her. "Seeing Kat make a fool out of herself with a few pints is always fun."

Her friend, mid-flirtation with Jack, didn't even catch the gesture.

Awkward silence fell between the two as each listened to the mix of banter and the clacking of Rodger's fingers against his phone.

"Er, what are you doing tomorrow night?" the man across from her asked, running a hand through his cropped, chocolate colored hair.

Jen felt her stomach flop.

How to put this kindly?

She had no feelings for this boy besides ones of friendship, barely. The only reason she knew him was because she had a majority of her classes with him, both having the same career goal in mind.

She wasn't blunt like Katherine, or quick on her feet like Linda.

So instead of telling him straight out or giving him a witty answer, she gave him the truth.

"Studying."

Feeling her face burn she turned to listen for the winning table to be announced, missing the disappointed look on the boy's face.

0o0o0

"Kat, pick up your feet!"

Her friend only laughed drunkenly, tripping even more.

Jennifer adjusted her grip on the girl's arm before resting her against the wall outside their dorm room. She struggled to find her key in her bag while simultaneously making sure that her roommate didn't fall over.

"I should've just let Jack take you back," she taunted, finally finding the key. She unlocked the room before helping Kat to stumble in.

"But no, I had to be a good friend because I knew you were going to regret-"

She was stopped short of her sarcastic tirade by the sight of a bouquet of roses resting on her pillow. Frowning, she deposited a chuckling Katherine on her bed before going to inspect the flowers.

A late birthday gift, it seemed.

All of her other gifts had been delivered to her room earlier in the day...why was this one sent over now? It couldn't have been recently; it was nearly three in the morning, and the campus post was closed.

Had they sent it over right after she left that night for the pub?

She hesitantly moved to pick up the blooms, inhaling their scent.

The young woman checked the arrangement for a card and found none,causing her to frown.

They couldn't be hers, could they?

She had already received gifts from her family.

Unless this one had arrived later.

But her mother had made no mention of it on the phone, or her father in his letter.

A sinking feeling formed in her stomach as she thought that the sender might be Jamie.

He wouldn't do such a thing, would he? Especially with red roses?

Uneasily she set the flowers on her night table.

If she went to the post tomorrow morning to check she'd find out who the sender was. And, hopefully, it wouldn't lead to an awkward conversation with Jamie.

Taking one last look at the gift she gathered up her pajamas and bathroom caddy, leaving her sleeping roommate behind.