what it means to be good.

chapter 1: the meeting

It was time, the battle was inevitable whereas merlin had every right to dread this very moment as he was standing in front of the crystal cave that may or may not show him the outcome that he was so desperately wishing for.

The day before... merlin looked up at the night sky through the window from his room out, he was in deep thoughts and contemplating all his options. He looked over at his night table where the bane of his existence lays, the very poison that started all of this in the first place. He still remembers every single detail of that fate changing night or rather destiny had taking its course with him doing everything in his might to prevent it. He thought about all the times he saved Camelot from its downfall but he couldn't rescue one single woman, his friend morgana. The day he met her, he just arrived in Camelot. There was an execution on going, everyone was gathering around the platform as merlin just stood there realizing that the man was sentenced to death for sorcery. He knew now how dangerous having magic is as its literally being showcased here. He noticed the king coming out giving a speech about the 'danger' of magic. He looked over to his right and there he saw her the most beautiful woman he ever saw, her long wavy raven black hair flowing down her back whilst her skin was the exact opposite. It was snow white and flawless matching perfectly with her hair. But the most striking feature were her shining green eyes that showed so much compassion and kindness and a little bit sadness laced with remorse. He first didn't understand why someone like her would be sad as she was obviously of high standard but after seeing in which direction she was looking at ,he understood and felt an inexplicable feeling towards her. That very moment he kind of just knew there was something special about her. He was brought out of his flashback by someone knocking at this door.

"merlin are you still up?" the man behind the boor asked. Merlin sighed out loud as he stood up and went to open the door, he reached for the handle and slowly turned it around. He came face to face standing with the man that thought him everything and was like a father figure to him. He let a small smile appear on lips " I am fine Gaius, I was just pondering about the past. You know the usual, thinking about what ifs and such" merlin replied shrugging jokingly. The hidden sadness in the sentence from his ward did not go unnoticed by Gaius, he gave his trademark eyebrow up face that says he didn't really believe his ward was truly okay. Merlin knew that he didn't sound believable but he didn't really care right now. Gaius didn't want to pester him further and continued " well merlin I was just with the king, he asked for your presence at a meeting between his most trusted companions" he finished looking up at him. Merlin just gave him an incredulous look conveying that why in the world his royal pratness wanted a meeting in the middle of the night. One look of Gaius and merlin understood that he was serious. " Arthur wants u at his side at this meeting as his right hand man". Gaius elaborated for merlin to know the importance and meaning of this somewhat strange situation. Merlin nodded at his guardian and made his way straight to the meeting hall without looking back. He considered knocking for a second but decided against it as he just barged in. he instantly scanned the room and saw the people that were already present. The first one he noticed was Gwaine then perceival followed by leon. His eyes landed then on his two best friends gwen and Arthur." Merlin finally I thought we had to drag your sorry ass all the way here" Arthur said obviously frustrated. " oh sorry your royal pratness I didn't know that someone like you will hold a meeting this late at night" merlin fired back with a mocking tone. "what's that supposed to mean?" Arthur replied through gritted teeth. " well isn't it obvious" merlin continued looking over at gwaine who realized what he was implying and finished for him " the princess needs her beauty sleep of course". He winked at him and showed him trade mark smirk. That hit a nerve as Arthur stood up from his seat "merlin". Merlin bowed down mockingly " yes milady?". As you looked around the room you will notice that perceival is hiding a smile, Leon is trying hard to hold on his laughter and gwaine...well he is gwaine. He couldn't stop shaking from laughter even Gwen was chuckling but she knew she had to be the grown up and get things moving on." Guys hush now we should be focusing on something far more important than Arthurs beauty sleep" she said with a smile playing on her lips. Arthur looked at her with a hurt expression but gave into her warm chocolate brown eyes that gave him the strength to pull this off, he finally returned the smile and looked back at merlin." Well take a seat then" Arthur demanded with a seriousness coming back that reminded everyone he is truly a king. Merlin simply nodded and took his seat. " now that everyone is here I would like to say a few things before the inevitable tomorrow, I gathered my most trusted companions for asking to fight with me one more time. the real war is starting tomorrow but it's also going to end, we have fought for as long as I can remember against dangerous threats that wanted to end our peaceful days." He took a deep breath and continued " morgana is our worst enemy yet because of her army or powerful magic, no because....she was once a kind and warm hearted woman. She was also the most compassionate of all of us, well almost" he said smiling at his wife and queen who in return for his words kissed him on the cheek. The others just smiles at the affection the king and queen have for each other well then there is gwaine who just gave Arthur the most ridiculous smirk he could muster. Arthur just rolled his eyes and went back to giving his speech " it might be hard for some of you to confront morgana and do what has to be done" he said the last part looking directly at merlin. Merlin looked just blankly back showing no emotion and kept a stoic expression on his face. Arthur aw searching for a crack in his manservants mask he lately wore that concealed his true feelings but didn't find one and just closed his eyes for a second before continuing " she was no, she still is my half-sister even if she turned out to be full of hate and vengeance, but for you for Camelot I will do anything in my might to protect my people from any harm. Even if it means killing her" he said the last part under his breath but was still loud enough for everyone to hear. There was a collective gasp coming from his side as he turned to his wife. She held a hand to her mouth trying hard not to cry. He couldn't bare to see her like that so he pulled her into a hug. No one dared to say anything even gwaine sat in silence pondering what his king just announced. Merlin was also in deep thought but for a different reason. He couldn't let Arthur kill morgana that would bring the same result as when he tried to kill his own father. It will only further darken his heart towards magic and the future he worked hard for will cease to exist. Freeing Magic will be would be all in vain. Everything he did all the sacrifices he made will be for naught, poisoning morgana will also be for nothing. No he can't let that happen, he can't let his greatest regret be in vain. " sire as someone who grew up with her and watched over her cant for the love of goodness end her life" merlin who was brought out of his thoughts was looking wide eyed at him. " but I will kill her for the love of our people and for Camelot sire" he said standing up and raising his sword in the air, those words coming from leon himself who was always quite reserved left an impact on everyone present as they all followed his lead with three swords now raised they all looked over at the king. Merlin watched from the sidelines knowing he will be the one to put an end to something he started nonetheless he was proud of the people he called friends. Arthur glanced at gwen for one last time as he too raised his sword " for the love of Camelot!". He shouted out loud, the others suitly followed and soon they were all chanting in unison. Merlin was smiling from ear to ear, he was glad he could be part of this friendship. Arthur looked over at his most trusted companions no must trusted friends who went through great dangers for him, He couldn't ask for a better friendship then the one he shared with these people. " so should we all celebrate our love for Camelot with a nice big glass of mead" gwaine announced, everyone just looked at him and rolled their eyes but not with annoyance with slight mirth. " oh come on! Who is up for some late night fun" he said with his usual smirk while rubbing his hands together. The rest just ignored him and were all pondering what just has been discussed." Merlin friend, you will surely be up for some fun. We all know of your frequent tavern visits, I am slight hurt though that you didn't take me along on your nightly antics" gwaine uttered to merlin who in return didn't react as he was still in deep thought. " merlin, merlin......MERlin!" Gwaine exclaimed imitating Arthur way of saying merlin when he is annoyed. Merlin immediately reacted to that like a switch had gone off and just like that merlin was brought back as he answered without thinking " yes sire ?". he looked at Arthur and who obviously annoyed but not at his clotpole face was directed at gwaine? The others were just slight chuckling at whole ituation finding it utmost funny." I don't sound like that!" Arthur muttered through gritted teeth. " oh yeah sorry milady" he cleared his throat and is now talking in a higher pitch " merlin are you done being an idiot" and at that everyone bursted out laughing except for the princess himself. Merlin quickly following up on as gwaine started shaking from laughter, arthur was not amused as he was being laughed on, for he the king was being made fun of? He just shook his head and face palmed himself, merlin still laughing out loud forgetting about his worries and the enemy they had to face tomorrow, he was just living in the moment right now." Kids" gwen said chuckling.

Meanwhile in a far darker place with an ominous air hanging around, inside of morganas hideout the Saxons were preparing for battle as morgana herself had a meeting with her most trusted companions, Aithusa and Modred." Why do you need to speak to us this late at night morgana. "Mordred said yawning a little"." I had a vision" morgana said simply to them. Modred knew what that means and with the way she said her eyes flinched he knew that it bode nothing well." What have you seen?" he asked concerned, very concerned. Aithusa just let out a small whine seeing her mistress/mother in distress " I saw my own demise at the hand of emrys" she replied still holding in a stone expression. Mordred was shaken to the core, the very men who helped him then betrayed him is going to murder his mother figure. He can't let that happen he thought to himself, aithusa on the contrary let out a happy chirp hearing the name of her dragonlord. That earned a confused look from morgana but shrugged it off as she didn't think much of it." I cant let you go into battle!" Mordred said frantically shaking his head, morgana just smiled at her sweet boy and gave him a reassuring smile " I can take care of myself and you know that visions are not always set In stone" she continued petting aithusa on her head, yours do Mordred sadly thought but he couldn't voice it as he knew how much the battle meant to her. Morder then just nodded and hugged her for the last time, she was slightly startled by that but still returned it, he looked at her and for the first time ever he wanted to tell her everything from what happened on day 1 to who emrys is but something or rather someone wouldn't let him( well yeah I wouldn't reveal such secret on the first chapter now would I ;) ) so he just gave her a small peck on her cheeks and bid her goodbye to return to his chambers. Morgana waved after him and went to sit on her throne, she was just about to call for aithusa as someone entered the room. The soldier was quite rude for just barging, morgana had a sneer on her face and didn't do much to hide it." My queen" the soldier said bending down on one knee " what brings you here" morgana said coldly with no sign of any patience. The soldier cowered under her look which would what he was about to say even harder. He took a deep breath to calm himself, he slowly stood up and looked the evil queen in her eyes. " I was wondering if I could eh...ehm if I could" the soldier was now stumbling on his words searching for the right way to say his concerns. Morgana was getting pretty frustrated and annoyed " speak up!" she yelled at him. The soldier flinched quite a bit and swallowed visibly. " I wanted to ask you milady if it was okay to stay at home tomorrow, you see milady my wife and child would be defenseless against Camelot forces and I was thinking if could stay at home with them" the soldier finished softly, morgana just blinked for a couple of seconds, she regained her composure and gave him a sickingly sweet smile as she answered " of course you can stay with your family." The soldier was overjoyed and stood up and thanked his queen " thank you so much my queen I will never forg---" his words died in his throat as his neck bend at an awkward angle, the last thing saw was morganas eyes that turned beautifully gold. His corpse fell down on the ground, " guards take this waste of space out of my room" morgana called out with a sneer on her beautiful features. The guards came running in and noticed the dead man on the floor, they all recognized him as willson who was a kind and honest man. They honestly felt for him but couldn't show it as they took his corpse and dragged it out " I want his body burned and serve as a reminder that if anyone wishes to ask my something that will be their fate" morgana said with venom dripping from her voice. " no one will betray me ever again, tomorrow I will have my revenge on arthur and emrys. THRONE WILL BE MINE AND IMAGIC WILL BE FREE ONCE AGAIN, I WILL MAKE SURE OF IT!" morgana shouted with so much conviction that the guards could only look at her and believe every word she was uttering." Yes milady, long live the queen!" one guard chanted and soon they are were chanting in unison. Morgana felt her mood being lifted up as she looked up and smirked evily " soon" she muttered.