Will's struggle.

A Long way back home

I am inspired by Carterandsadie2 for writing this story.

Context: After Halt found Will in Skandia, they began their way back home. But things don't go as well as Halt thought. Skandia made a huge impact on Will, Halt realized. As they are riding back to Redmont, Halt's worries began to grow.

They had been riding for a long time now. As the sun was setting, Halt realized that it was time to make a camp. A small one though, because they still need to watch out for Skandians who might want Will back. Halt shook the thought off him. Will is safe now, and he is coming home with him. 

After supper and some coffee, Halt decided that it was time to go to bed. He noticed that Will had made his tent, but without saying any words. Halt was concerned. The boy was silent almost the whole trip they made today. He almost missed the 24 thousand questions that Will used to bomb him with. But Halt remembered that he had spend almost 6 months in Skandia where he wasn't allowed to speak. It must have been hell for him, as a young teenage boy who cannot speak.                                                                                                                                                                                        Halt saw that Will went to his tent and closed it. Normally, he would've come to Halt to say goodnight, but this time he didn't. But Halt was happy to see that he was able to take care of himself, by recognising if he was tired or not. Halt knew, that a lot of warm weed victoms couldn't take care off themselves, because of the hard addiction. Luckily, Will wasn't in that state, he thought..

Halt couldn't sleep. Al though his eyelids were heavy, his mind couldn't stop thinking. Will had gone through a lot, he thought. Too much, especially for a 15 year old boy. He is a chil-

Halt snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the warning. Tug breezed softly. The horse was completely upset and was moving nervously, even though he was trained to stand still if he felt danger. "What is it, Tug?'', Halt whispered. He looked around the camp carefully, still not moving a thing. After around 5 minutes, nothing had happened. Halt was 100 percent sure that he heard the warning.

''What happened ,Tug?'', Halt asked slowly.

Somethings wrong.

''Can you tell me what is wrong Tug?''

It's getting bad, Halt.

Cold chills went down his spine as he saw Tug looking at the tent. The tent where Will was laying in. The tent stood around 10 steps away from where Halt was standing. Even at that distance, he could hear the heart tearing sounds of choking.

For a second, Halt was confused. Then the sound penetrated through his soul.

Will.

Halt rushed to his apprentices tent. With every step he took, the sound became more and more louder and clearer. Halt cut open the tent, not risking the little time he had to save Will from choking to death. His heart ached as he saw Will laying down on his side, barely any energy left to lift himself up. Halt quickly sat down next to his apprentice, who struggled to breath.

''Will look at me!", Halt shouted at him. ''Look at me Will! Take deep breaths Will, don't panic I am here with you". Halt saw that the boy tried to take deep breaths, but it wasn't enough. The coughs kept coming and Will started to gag and gasping for fresh air. Halt grabbed Wills shoulders and turned him around. He laid the weak boy on his knees as he padded Will softly on his back. Halt knew that he did not choke on food. This was a panic attack that was caused by his extreme nightmares he got from Skandia.

Air. That was the only thing Will could think of. His body was panicking, as he tried to swim to the surface, but without any luck. Will NEEDED air, or else he would die.

Panic began to take over and he started kicking wildly with his legs and feet. As he tried to swim and kick his legs, he accidentally breathed in water. Will started coughing and screaming, desperate for air.

He didn't have enough energy, Will realized. He would die here, alone. Without halt, Will thought sadly. He would be forgotten and just die here. As Will tried to swim to the surface for one more time, he heard a voice. The voice was weirdly familiar, Will thought.

The Voice gave him power. He didn't understand what it was saying, but it gave him enough strength to try and swim up for one last time. His muscles were giving up, but he still managed to kick with his legs every time he heard The voice. As he almost reached the surface, Will realized that he recognized the voice. It was Halt.

The sudden shock through the small body that was laying in Halts arm gave him a sign that Will woke up. "Will listen to me. Take deep breaths and listen to my voice"", Halt said. He felt a lump in is throat as he saw the boy fighting for his life. Will was still coughing and trying to breath and Halt couldn't help him enough to stop it.

Wills vision was blurry. He tried to breath, but was immediately disturbed by a tense pain going through his throat, causing him to cough. "Will, try to hold your breath. The coughs will stop and you will be able to breath clearly, you understand Will?". Will heard Halt, but did not know how to tell him that. His body was exhausted and he had barely any energy left. The boy tried to turn around his head, so he could see his mentor. With the very last bit of energy he had left, het turned his head and looked at Halt. His eyes matched Halts for a second, and that was enough. Halt knew it was a sign.

As the minutes passed, Will slowly recovered from his panic and coughing attack. The boy was drained. All of the energy he had, was sucked into the attack and did not return. Halt held his apprentice in his arms, letting his emotions go. He softly cried as he watched the boy lay in his arms without any energy left. Halt put his hand on Wills head, so he could wipe his sweat and hair from his face. The once so energetic and full of life boy laid in his arms, without moving a thing, trying to breathe the best he could. The coughs had stopped a few minutes ago, but Will had trouble breathing. With every breath Will took, a painful sound could be heard.

"H-halt?" asked Will in a raspy, soft voice. "Will, I'm here. I wont leave you son", replied Halt in a tune that Will had never heard before. It sounded sad, almost broken. Will started to cry softly, starting with tears and then sobs. Sobs Halt wished he'd never hear. Will tried to turn his head, so he could see where he was. But he was so tired, he just couldn't do it. He was so exhausted. He could't do it anymore. The dreams seemed so real to him. "Halt, I-im so exhausted.. I can't move a-anything. I'm scared Halt please d-dont leave me"", the boy said.

"I won't leave you Will, I would never leave you.""

Lmk what yall think of this? i love feedback and tips! i dont know when i will update, because i have exams coming up soon. please leave a comment! have a nice day or night:)

(also, i am not fluent english. so i am sorry if there are any grammar misspellings, please lmk so i can fix it!)

Update: i added some "before the attack"" scenes. Hope yall like it!