Merlin Emrys smirked as he felt Arthur jerk awake next to him. His cousin turned towards him with an accusing glare. He just smiled innocently before turning back towards the teacher that was droning on about something to do with grammar. If there was one class Merlin couldn't stand it was English. He didn't mind reading books; in fact he loved it. It was all the writing he had to do. He just didn't enjoy it. Mainly because he was horrible at spelling and his grammar left something to be desired.

On the other hand, Arthur loved English. It was the only class he could sleep through and still get a better grade than his younger cousin.

"You could've woken me up sooner," Arthur hissed as they made their way out of the class.

"You could've stayed awake."

Arthur made a face at him.

They quickly made their way towards their dorm room to drop off their books. Merlin grabbed his math text while Arthur climbed up into his lofted bed and took out his Nintendo DS.

"I'll be back later," he said as he made his way out the door and closed it behind him. He quickly headed towards the library to meet up with Kay for their bi-weekly study session.

He had to smile as he stepped out into the cool air. He simply loved winter and it was even better that it snowed here. He loved how everything turned white after a new snowfall. He had woken up early last week just to get outside before anyone could ruin the new blanket of snow. He had spent two hours by himself playing in the snow before The Knights had shown up. Arthur and Leon had immediately started a snowball fight with Kay while Morgana had lectured him about wearing his scarf and hat out in the cold.

His smile widened as he thought over the memory. Over the past three weeks his life at Albion had vastly improved. Arthur seemed determined to keep his promise to make up for the way he had acted during the first part of the semester. It seemed that the group of older students generally wanted him to be around.

It felt good to be wanted.

Especially since he no longer had Will.

The only things that seemed wrong in his life were the residents of Mercia Hall and Avalon Manor. They were the biggest rivals that Camelot had and Merlin, as an un-official part of The Knights, was their biggest target. Not that any of The Knights knew this. Merlin figured that once they had their fun they would move on to their next target. Only problem was they didn't seem to be getting bored of him.

He had thought briefly of telling Arthur what was going on while he was tied to a flag pole- for a half hour before one of the teachers had seen him there and freed him. He decided not to after he had walked in on one of the "meetings of the round table". (Really, Arthur was taking the Camelot thing too far.) They had been planning a prank on The Druids from Avalon Manor, and Merlin decided that it would be very bad to let his newly overprotective cousin in on what was happening. Arthur would most likely get himself expelled.

"Look what we have here," a voice rang out.

Merlin tensed at the familiar voice. It belonged to Cornelius Sigan.

He was the one Arthur called traitor. Apparently all through grade school Cornelius had been a part of the Camelot group only to trade to Avalon in the eighth grade. He had been bullying Merlin since he started at Albion.

The boy decided not to give the others the satisfaction of giving them a reaction and continued on his way. Not pausing as they called him back. He only stopped when one of the other students raced to cut him off- thus trapping him between four big jocks.

"When I talk to you, you listen," Sigan hissed leaning so that he was in Merlin's face knocking the younger teen's text out of his hand, kicking it to the side, onto snow covered grass.

Merlin turned his head and coughed. "Ever tried brushing your teeth?"

Sigan's eyes darkened. He signaled to two of the jocks and before he knew what was happening Merlin was being carried towards the dumpster, silently thanking any deity that happened to be listening that the trash had been taken out earlier that afternoon meaning there would be little to nothing inside.

Merlin couldn't help the pained "oof," as he hit the bottom of the metal bin.

"Maybe some time with the garbage will teach you how to respect your superiors." Sigan smirked as he slammed the plastic lid down.

Merlin rolled his eyes as the sound of one of them hitting the lid filled the bin. He may be short but it didn't take much for him to actually get out of the dumpster. He stood and pushed on the lid. To his horror it didn't move. Another dull thunk sounded from the other lid and it dawned on him. They had trapped him.

"Well that's just prefect."

Kay was more than just a little confused. He might not be the brightest guy when it came to school but he wasn't stupid. He knew that Merlin would never knowingly skip out on one of their tutoring sessions. The kid actually seemed to enjoy helping him out with math. So after waiting in the library for nearly a half hour Kay knew something was up.

Merlin might not be an official part of their group yet- mainly because they couldn't get around to giving him the initiation ceremony, and they were worried that the bullying he had to deal with would escalate- but he was one of them. At first it had been a little weird when Arthur and Morgana both had insisted that the kid hang out with them but it didn't take too long for Leon, Gwen, and him to get used to it. Merlin was a good kid and could keep up with anyone of them, except when it came to sports. He was completely hopeless when it came to sports.

Kay didn't bother knocking as entered Arthur and Merlin's room hoping that the kid had just forgotten or that Arthur had distracted him. He was therefore disappointed when he only found Arthur lying on his bed with his DS.

"Where's Merlin?" Arthur glanced at him briefly before turning back to his game.

"I was kinda hopin' you could tell me."

Arthur paused his game and looked down at him. "Wasn't he with you?"

"No he never showed up at the library."

"What?" That seemed to catch the blonde's full attention as he sat up threw his game down and jumped out of his bed.

"Yeah, I waited for him for a half hour before coming back. I thought you two would be playing that Professor Layton game again like last time."

"I haven't seen him since he left with his book to meet you. Did you see anything on your way back?"

"Nope."

Arthur sighed before pulling his phone out of his pocket and quickly sending a text to Gwen and Morgana to meet them in the quad as soon as their play rehearsal was over. "Come on let's go grab Leon and start looking for the idiot."

Merlin sighed as he played with the frayed end of sleeves. He wished that he had listened to Morgana about wearing his hat and scarf as well as a heavier coat, even if he wasn't going to be outside for long. Here he was stuck in a dumpster, wearing nothing to protect him from the cold but his jacket.

To make matters worse the dumpsters had been strategically placed on campus so that not many people would have to walk by them. He had spent nearly an hour yelling for help only to give up. If he heard anyone coming he'd try again but it was doubtful anyone would come by. He'd just have to wait until the janitors took out the trash in the next morning.

He shivered at the thought.

"I just don't see how you could lose him within the course of thirty minutes," Morgana stated glaring at the three boys.

"It's not like he's a little kid. He can take care of himself you know," Arthur responded pulling his coat tighter around him. They had been searching for Merlin for three hours now and had yet to find any sign of the kid.

"Of course he can't take care of himself," Morgana snapped. "You know what he's like."

"I know. It's just getting late and there hasn't been any sign of him."

"It's only seven," Leon pointed out needlessly.

"I know," Arthur barked.

Arthur didn't want to admit it but he was seriously starting to get worried about his cousin. It wasn't like he didn't disappear from time to time for hours on end. No he actually did that quite often. This time was different though. He never just didn't show up for an appointment he had with someone. Plus there was a gnawing dread in his stomach that he couldn't shake. All he knew is that if Merlin wasn't found soon something horrible was going to happen.

He sighed looking around at the group. He could tell that everyone was just as frustrated and worried as he was. Morgana especially. He wasn't sure what Merlin had told her after the fight he had with William but whatever it was made her super protective of their cousin.

"Look, we're not getting anything done just standing here. We should probably split up again. Morgana, Gwen, I want you both to go back to Camelot," he held up a hand to stop them from protesting. "Let me finish. I want you to go back and make sure that he didn't turn up. If he's there text us. If not, warm up for a while then trade places with Leon and Kay."

The girls looked like they wanted to protest but nodded and turned to walk back towards their dorm hall. "Kay, I want you to take the West side of campus and check all the building again, check every room you can in the library. Leon I want you to take the East side. I'm going to keep looking outside."

The two nodded and left the blonde alone.

He took a deep breath to calm his frayed nerves. It was time to get some help. They had to tell a teacher.

Merlin felt his eyes drift shut and jerked his head back up. He reached for his right wrist to illuminate his watch. He sighed as he saw that he had been stuck in the dumpster for over eight hours and the temperature had been steadily dropping as the sun set. It was almost one in the morning meaning he only had another three to four hours until he was discovered by some poor unsuspecting janitor. He only hoped that it wouldn't be too late. He had stopped feeling the cold sometime ago and knew that was a bad sign and had been trying not to fall asleep. He wasn't sure where he'd heard it or even if it were true but he vaguely remembered someone saying that it was bad to fall asleep in the cold.

Uther Pendragon was seething. He couldn't remember the last time he was this mad. How dare this incompetent moron stutter excuses at him?

It had been around eight-thirty that he had actually been able to get home relatively early from the office only to be greeted by a frantic message from his daughter telling him that his nephew was currently missing and that the school administrators were doing little to nothing to remedy the situation. It took him an hour to pick up his brother-in-law and get to the school. They had both stormed in demanding to know what was going on.

His family meant everything to him. Especially his children; and that included Merlin now.

"I don't want to hear your excuses I want to see results. Either you find him within the hour or I will have your job." He finished his tirade with a glare before storming out of the office.

He took a moment to take in the scene before him. Various police officers were talking urgently to one another as others scrambled around. Looking outside he could see lights bobbing up and down in the darkness indicating more people searching for the missing boy. His eyes circled the room until they landed on the corner where Gaius was seated with Arthur. Uther sighed before walking over to his son and crouching in front of him and putting a hand on his knee to gain his attention.

From what he understood Arthur had been searching since around four-thirty that afternoon and had only stopped when Gaius had forced him inside to warm up about twenty minutes ago. Uther desperately wanted to send Arthur to bed but knew that his son wouldn't hear of it. Not until Merlin was found. "You ready to start searching again," he questioned. Arthur nodded, setting down the mug of hot chocolate before standing and putting on his coat.

Uther gave a small smile as he warped an arm around his son's shoulders. "We're going to find him."

Arthur spared him a glance. "Yes. We will."

Leon shivered as he stepped out into the cool air. Since Gaius had arrived the doctor had insisted that each of the few students helping with the search go inside ever two hours to warm up. He ran his flashlight quickly over the crowd stopping when he found Kay and Arthur talking, he quickly joined them.

"Where are the girls?"

"Gaius was able to convince them to go to bed. It's almost two after all," Kay said with a shrug.

Leon nodded his head. "I think we're next. I heard some of the cops talking and they're planning on extending the search even more." By this point the search had been extended way beyond the campus boundaries.

"Good for them," Arthur stated.

Leon traded looks with Kay. Arthur was not handling this well. He had been optimistic at first but as time went on the other boy was getting moodier and more depressed.

"You know, I just thought of somewhere that we haven't checked," Kay announced thoughtfully.

"Yeah, where's that?"

"The alley between the math and art buildings."

Leon blinked. They hadn't looked down there because students were generally not allowed back there and Merlin was a stickler for the rules. Well, more so than they were.

"I'm sure someone's checked back there," Leon stated. "Maybe we should follow the girls' lead and go to bed. We'll be able to help more tomorrow if we get some sleep."

"You both go ahead. I'm going to go check out the alley."

Leon sighed in exasperation. The cops had probably combed the place from top to bottom by this point. With Uther Pendragon breathing down their necks there was no way they'd miss anything. "We'll come with you."

It didn't take them long to find the alley and start looking, shinning their lights into every nook and cranny they could find. "Is it normal for dumpsters to have large rocks on top of them," Kay asked examining the trash bin.

Merlin jerked out of sleep for what felt like the thousandth time that night wondering what had woken him this time. He tried to concentrate on finding the reason with the sound of voices distracting him.

Wait a second.

"H'lo," he called out weekly hoping that someone would actually hear him. "H'lp," he called a little louder.

The voices stopped. Only to be replaced with a scraping sound coming from above. Confused he looked up and moments later was greeted by a bright light.

Arthur gasped as he looked into the dumpster using his flash light to look around. There was his cousin, looking impossibly small, and tired. Not thinking, he quickly climbed into the dumpster to join the younger teen and quickly pulled him into a hug, kissing him on top of his head.

"Arth'r? 'S tha' you?" Merlin's voice was thick and slurred.

"Yeah Buddy, it's me."

"Oh. Kay. I'm gonna sleep now."

"No, no, no. Not yet. We need to get you warmed up first."

"No' cold."

Arthur felt his heart slam against his ribcage at the words. He wasn't a doctor but he was pretty sure it was a bad thing if you stopped feeling cold in temperatures below freezing. "Leon, go get help!"

He scooped Merlin into his arms and stood, handing him off to a waiting Kay, before climbing out of the dumpster. He slipped off his coat, shivering as the cold air hit his bare arms, knowing that sharing as much body heat as possible would be the best course of action. He traded the coat for Merlin before indicating that Kay should drape his coat over his shoulder, covering Merlin.

"Uther calm down. Yelling at everyone isn't going to find Merlin faster," Gaius said for what seemed like the thousandth time that night.

"I know. I'm just frustrated."

"Everything possible is being done to find him."

"I know."

Gaius turned towards his brother-in-law and best friend. He could only remember a few times that Uther looked anything less than perfect: before his wedding, while Arthur and Morgana were being born, after Ygrain was murdered, and when Hunith died so suddenly only months ago. This was the first time that he'd seen the man look frantic though. He could only imagine that he didn't look much better.

Merlin was the baby of their small family. He was the last reminder that either of them had of Hunith, who had been the first to welcome Uther to their family and had helped them through Ygrain's death despite having her husband abandon her, being secretly pregnant, and mourning her sister's death. She only thought of others, something that Merlin seemed to inherit.

"Dr. Emrys! Mr. Pendragon!" Both men turned to see Arthur's friend, Leon, running towards them. "We found him!" The boy stumbled to a stop in front of them, breathing heavily. "We found him. Arthur said to get help."

"What's wrong," Uther demanded pulling out his cell phone dialing 911.

"Was he outside," Gaius cut in, knowing that it would be a problem if he had been.

Leon nodded. "Trapped in a dumpster," he explained finally catching his breath.

Gaius raised an eyebrow at that but caught sight of two figures coming towards them quickly. "Ambulance will be here in about three minutes," Uther informed hanging up his phone.

Gaius nodded as he waved Arthur and Kay over to the building.

"How's Merlin," Gwen asked, like she did every afternoon after classes, as she walked into Arthur's room Friday, four days after Merlin's disappearing act.

"He's doing well," Morgana answered with a small smile. "He actually should be back later today."

"That seems a little soon," Leon commented, flashes of Arthur frantically calling out to Gaius that Merlin had stopped breathing going through his mind. He shook his head trying to clear his head of the memory and the feelings it brought up. "It's only been four days."

"Gaius said that he should be fine. It usually only takes a few hours to recover from hypothermia," Morgana explained.

"Yes, but he stopped breathing."

The two Pendragons traded looks before shrugging.

Leon sighed. "Has he told anyone who trapped him?"

Before anyone could answer the door opened revealing their object of concern plus Uther and Gaius.

"Hey everyone," Merlin greeted sounding tired but smiling.

"Merlin are you sure you want to stay here? You can come back to my place," Gaius offered.

"I think I want to start getting back into some sort of routine. I'm really behind in everything and I need to get caught up."

The two adults traded looks before both turning on the youngster. "You will do no such thing," Uther stated firmly.

"Merlin, you just went through a trying ordeal. You need to allow your body to recover and will do nothing but sleep, lounge in bed, and eat," Gaius continued.

"Uh, of course I will."

The two suspiciously eyed the boy before nodding.

"Arthur, you are to insure that Merlin follows the doctor's orders and stays in bed as much as possible until Sunday. Then he can get up and start walking around. On Monday when he returns to class make sure that he takes it easy and if he starts to get overwhelmed you make sure he gets back to rest."

"Will do Uncle Gaius."

Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Good, I feel much better then. Take care of yourself," Gaius kissed his nephew on the head and gave both Arthur and Morgana a quick hug before moving out of the overcrowded room.

"Here," Uther said handing Merlin a new cell phone. "I want you to use that when you're in trouble. That way nothing like this will happen again."

"B-but Aiden said I can't have a cell phone."

"I don't care what Aiden says. If I want to give you a phone I will. If he has a problem with it he can take it up with me."

Merlin nodded looking at the phone in surprise.

"I've already programmed Gaius', Arthur's, Morgana's, and my numbers in there," Uther informed. "You have the same plan as Morgana and Arthur so you can use it anyway that you want. Just remember to call every now and then." He smiled briefly and put a hand on the boys shoulder in parting before bidding them all goodbye and leaving.

Leon moved to take the phone from Merlin's hand smiling when he noticed that it was the same model as Arthur's Blackberry. He programmed his number in before calling his own phone so that he could have Merlin's number before handing it to Gwen so she could do the same as Morgana and Arthur forced Merlin into bed.

AN: I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think :)