Merlinella

Based on "Cinderella". Merlin, Gwen and Morgana have been "apprenticed" by Nimueh, but when Merlin falls into her bad books, he has to work as a servant in a house where he was previously a favoured member of the household. When Merlin hears of Nimueh's plan to enact some kind of revenge on the King through the King's son, he does everything he can to make sure this prince stays safe. Even if that does mean appearing the these balls as a girl and disappearing at midnight...

(written for reel_merlin)

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a boy called Merlin.

When Merlin had been very little, his mother, his only parent, had died, and instead of being taken in and looked after by the rest of his village - the usual way when a child was orphaned - a great lady, who called herself Nimueh had swept down upon them and 'taken a fancy' to the young Merlin.

"I've always wanted a little boy," she said, one hand on Merlin's head, and he looked up at her, sensing the lie in her words. "And Merlin will be like a little son to me. The little son I have never had."

Unable to protest against a lady, the villagers had reluctantly agreed to her demands; when Nimueh left the village, she took Merlin with her.

The home she took him to - the home she had promised him - was a huge, forbidding castle up in the mountains, in the middle of a forest. To Merlin, all of seven years old, it was terrifying, and Nimueh found him a room 'all of your own', said with a smile that was meant to be reassuring and actually made Merlin think she was going to eat him. Some people did that, he knew. His mother had told him so when he was bad.