"Will? Merlin? Wake up, school today!" Elizabeth opened Will's bedroom door. She blinked, surprised to find her son at the foot of the spare bed, with drawn on papers spread out across the gap between the two boys. She decided to let it go, since she doubted the two had managed to stay up much later than when she had put them in bed.

Merlin rubbed his fists against his eyes, and smiled at Elizabeth. "Morning, Miss Liz. Will! Wake up." With a yawn he kicked his friends leg lightly. The other child was such a heavy sleeper, that he didn't stir at all.

Merlin climbed out of the bed and began shaking it, once Will's mother had left.

Finally Will groggily opened his eyes "Quit it, will you?"

"Not till you get up!" Merlin continued to shake the bed. Will swatted at Merlin's arms, and realizing Merlin wasn't lying pinned the smaller boys hands down, so he couldn't shake the bed.

"Much better" Will sighed, closing his eyes again.

Merlin gave up, at this point, and after struggling to pull his hands out, he got dressed.

"Morning!" Merlin sang, as he left the room, fully dressed, leaving behind a still sleeping Will.

"Good morning, Merlin!" Will's father, Charles, who had not been home the night before, said with surprise. "When on earth did you get here?"

"I slept over! Cause mummy had to go to the school to talk to Miss Davie and Mr. Pendragon." It took all of Merlin's willpower not to call him the clotpole's father.

"Oh, I wish I had known, I would have set up a fire for the two of you to roast marshmallows on!" Charles was slightly disappointed that he had missed his son's first sleepover.

"S'okay!" Merlin told him, "We had lots of fun!"

Elizabeth walked in then, fresh waffles in hand "Is Will still not up? Will! Wake up!" She ended with a shout.

"No…" Came the tired moan from down the hall. Elizabeth sat the waffles down, knowing her son was awake, if he was talking. Five minutes later Will emerged, his hair sticking up in odd clumps, and his shirt on backwards.

"You look funny, Will!" Merlin giggled. Will simply poked him, and sat at the table, between Merlin and his father.

"Will, your shirt." Elizabeth sighed, like this was a daily occurrence. Without even waiting for him to stand up, she pulled it off and turned it around for him.

Merlin found that the mornings were far more rushed at Will's house, than at his own, most likely because they had woken up so late. Nonetheless, he managed to eat his entire breakfast, brush his teeth and pack up his things, within the few minutes he was given before having to leave. Thankfully, Will managed to as well, despite hardly having opened his eyes since he woke up. In fact, Merlin wasn't quite sure his friend was awake!


The walk to the school took a bit longer than it would had Merlin left from his own home. Partially because the two boys decided that they were space men. Will had turned evil, because of an alien, so Merlin was checking every bush for the suspect, trying to shoot it (with his hands in the shape of a gun) each time it appeared. Will chased after Merlin at the same time screaming in the scariest voice he could muster "No! My pet! My precious pet!"

Elizabeth decided she would find it cute, were they not late, and eventually scooped the two small children up, ignoring the complaints and struggles that came from the both, and rushed the rest of the way to the school.

"Mum! I missed you!" Merlin screamed, deciding only now that he really had missed his mother. With a grin Hunith took her son out of Elizabeth's arms and into her own.

"I missed you!" She kissed Merlin on the cheek, before adding, "But Merls. I have some bad news… Mr. Pendragon is making you still be Arthur's study partner. You have to go home with Arthur after school today."

"What?!" Merlin screeched, pushing himself out of his Mother's arms. "Mummy you promised! I won't go!" A few people turned to stare at the five year old, as he crossed his arms and willed himself not to cry.

"I'm sorry sweetheart, Miss Davie and Mr. Pendragon thought it might help the two you be nicer to each other. I tried to make them see differently, but they wouldn't. You are going to go, and you will be kind to Arthur. And also to his sister Morgana, who I've heard is also in your class?" Hunith finished talking, with the attempt to distract the boy from Arthur.

"Yeah… She's okay." Merlin grumbled. He took the books from his mothers hands, handed her his sleepover materials, and stalked off into the school.

Will hugged his mother goodbye, and as a second thought turned and hugged Hunith as well, "That's from Merlin." He stated, before turning on his heel, "Merlin wait!" He called, chasing after the smaller child.

Both mothers just sighed and watched the boys run inside.


School that day was torturous. Despite having been kept separate most of the day, Merlin was mad at Arthur. There was no way he was going to the clotpole's house! Apparently for once the two boys were in agreement that Merlin would not be going, as Arthur kept shooting glares his way.

The day, despite Merlin being angry the whole time, was uneventful. That was, of course, up until game time.

"For the last game," Miss Davie announced, "I will be choosing your partners. If I hear any protests about who I choose, the whole class will sit in silence for one minute per protest. Understood?" The whole class nodded. They had come to realize that when Miss Davie told them not to do something, they didn't or there were consequences.

"Good. Will and Leon, Gwen and Mali, Morgana and Damien…" The partner choosing continued on until finally, "Merlin and Arthur." Every single student in the room gasped. They all knew very well how the two acted together, and were shocked that their teacher who was so smart, would do something so dumb.

Merlin trudged over to where Arthur stood, shuffling his feet.

"For this game," Miss Davie ignored the boys obvious anger, "We will compete to see who can build the highest tower. If it falls over, you're out, and have to go sit on the carpet. Okay?" Without waiting for questions she placed 25 blocks in front of each group. "One minute starts… Now!"

Immediately Arthur pulled the blocks towards himself, "I'll take care of this! I can't have a cabbagehead like you make me lose!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Merlin protested. "Besides! If you pile them up like that they will just fall over! You have to put three, then two and then pile them!"

"What would you know, weirdo?" Arthur said, as he hit Merlins hand away.

"Quit it, Arthur!" Merlin demanded, getting angrier by the second. "Look! It's falling now, you clotpole!" Sure enough, the tower Arthur had built was beginning to tilt. Ignoring Merlin, he continued to stack.

"Ten seconds," Miss Davie warned the class.

"Arthur!" Merlin screamed again, moving closer to the blocks. Arthur took this unbalanced second of Merlin shifting his weight, to push the smaller boy. Merlin stumbled backwards, and ran directly into Arthur's half sister. He and Morgana's heads bashed together with a distinct thud.

"You prat!" They both screamed at Arthur. Arthur turned to glare, and in doing so, sent the small gust of air towards the tower that finally knocked it over.

Of course, it still was Merlin's fault. If he hadn't been shouting at him, this never would have happened! And, seeing no better way to handle this, he tackled Merlin.

Well… he tried to tackle Merlin. But the boy was intercepted mid leap by an extremely angry Miss Davie. The teacher stammered for a minute, utterly unable to handle the present situation.

Finally she set the boy on his feet, none too gently, and turned towards Merlin and Morgana, "You two, go to the nurse, you hit your heads rather hard. Tell the nurse you are to have ice on them for at least five minutes. Arthur. You need to stop hitting people. This game was meant so that the class would begin to work together. Clearly I was wrong to think the future king would be able to handle such a thing…"

Arthur's face became very red. Miss Davie had reprimanded him the same way his father would.

He crossed his arms and grumbled "It's all Merlin's fault." Truthfully, he was only acting angry, so nobody would be able to tell that the boy was about to cry. If there was one thing Arthur hated, besides Merlin of course, was knowing that he had failed.

"I like you, Merlin. You aren't scared of my brother." Morgana broke the awkward silence that had engulfed the two children upon leaving the room.

"How do you live with himall the time? He's such a meanie!" Merlin was truly curious.

"Our house is quite big. It's easy to ignore him. I'll show you how when you come over today! Our daddy told us you would be. You will still come, right? Gwen is coming over! And, I can show you all the ways to make Arthur mad. He might try to hurt us, but it's quite funny. And I'm stronger than him!" Without meaning to, Morgana was practically begging this boy to come.

She had seen how much he disliked her brother, and how much her brother disliked him, and was quite amused. If her brother were a nicer person, she would help him plan the pranks he was planning on pulling, but she had decided instead on helping Merlin. He seemed kind.

"I don't think mum would be very happy if I didn't go. But I still don't want to." Merlin replied, a little harshly.

"Is this the nurse's room? I can't read the sign." Morgana's face flushed a little, but she knew the boy was much better at reading than the rest of the class.

"I guess so… It's got an N at the front." Merlin seemed unsure, but he opened up the door anyways.

There was nobody in the room at all. It was completely empty. On one side, was a pair of beds, with paper sheets. On the other, three chairs, and a freezer. Directly in front of where the children could see, was a desk, that seemed to loom over them.

"My doctor has beds like these." Merlin stated, "I guess this must be the nurse. Do we have to get our own ice packs?"

Morgana shrugged, "I guess. The freezer?" With no hesitation, she walked over to the freezer, and pulled it open. Like the room, it was completely empty. Now a tad frightened, she slammed it shut again.

"What's wrong? What's in there?" Merlin demanded, walking over.

Morgana shook her head, "Nothing. I mean it, though. Nothing."

The two children looked at each other, for a split second before nervously scrambling for the door. As Merlin reached out to pull the handle, the door swung open viciously, causing both children to fall backwards.

Into the room rushed a large woman, is some sort of pink concoction of clothing. Even the band holding her hair back was a cruel-to-the-eyes shade of pink.

Walking with her, though looking like he might stumble, was a boy, carrying an opened plastic bag in his hand. He had clearly just been sick, and looked like he might be again.

Merlin and Morgana tried then, to sneak out, without the pink lady seeing them. Sadly, the woman barely caught a glimpse of them, and, having been unaware any children where in the office, let out a short, shrill shriek.

Morgana screamed in return, grabbing onto Merlin's arm. Merlin, grabbed her arm in return, his eyes quickly filling with tears.

The two ran out of the room with the woman calling "Children! Children!" after them. They didn't stop though. They ran all the way back to their classroom. Which was down two hallways but really! It was very far!

That was when the school dismissal bell rang, causing the two to scream again.

Miss Davie rushed out of the room, before her students had the chance, to find Merlin and Morgana holding onto each others arms and gasping for air through their tears. It was an utterly pitiful sight.


After spending a few minutes calming them down (and telling them the pink woman was the nurse) they were allowed to leave.

"That was kinda scary" Morgana giggled slightly.

"Kinda? I don't even know how you screamed so loudly!" Merlin teased, feeling much better.

"At least I didn't cry like a baby," Morgana replied with a smirk.

"Merlin!" Will, screamed running up to the new friends as soon as they walked outside. "What happened?"

"We were attacked!" Merlin whispered dramatically. "By a scary lady in pink!"

"Morgana! We have to go! Now!" Arthur demanded.

"You wait your butt." Morgana shouted back. "Bye Will! Come on, Merlin." She grabbed the boys arm, and with a final wave to Will, pulled him towards Arthur, calling for Gwen as she went. Will and Merlin shared a slightly stricken look, and Merlin seemed as though he might run away, if he could.


Waiting for the arrival of an adult was tedious, though it lasted only a few seconds. Moments after Gwen, Morgana and Merlin arrived at the curb next to Arthur and Leon (who looked slightly upset) the same limousine that had dropped the king off earlier, pulled up.

"What's the matter with you, Leon?" The driver asked, without acknowledging the others kids who were waiting.

"Hi. Can I come home with Arthur today, Mr. H? Mum isn't going to be home, and she told me to tell you this morning, but I forgot to ask." Leon wiped his hands on his shorts, seeming so afraid that he may offend the driver.

"Sure." The driver, Mr. H, shrugged, without noticing how upset the boy looked. "All of you in."

Arthur got in first, followed shortly by Leon. Naturally. Morgana told Gwen to get in next, then turned to Merlin.

"Are you coming?" She demanded.

"No. He isn't. And if you don't get in, we will leave you too." Arthur shouted, before Merlin had even the slightest chance to answer.

Arthur began to reach over to the door, but was stopped by Mr. H.

"Arthur," He said, a warning tone in his voice, "You father won't be happy to hear that you slammed your sisters hand in a door. Nor will he be pleased to find you tried to get rid of, Merlin, was it?" He addressed Merlin with the last part, and Merlin managed to meekly nod his head.

"In." Morgana stated simply as she pushed the small boy into the vehicle.

As soon as the Merlin and Morgana were situated, with Merlin oh so conveniently located within kicking distance of Arthur, Mr. H sped off.


I'm going to be perfectly honest in saying, I am not that proud of this chapter. I have had huge plans for this story recently, but need a sort of filler chapter to get there. Honestly, was hoping for the major events to happen in this chapter, but I just couldn't seem to write it in. Next chapter should definitely be better. Please leave a review despite this. All rights belong to the BBC. (Does anybody want to help me kidnap Merlin? I seem to be having a tad bit of trouble with that mission...)