Sick Day, Rangers apprentice by Elfpen (Fanfiction )

Chapter 4: The Visitor

uthor's Note: Sorry about the long delay. I actually was nearly finished with this chapter... And then my computer crashed. Badly. Like, the kind of bad that I had to wipe the hard drive for. Needless to say, I was less than happy about that. But I got back up and re-wrote it. Hopefully it is enjoyable. :)

Will felt like he was drowning. He was quite sure that his head was immersed in water. His brains were swimming around inside his skull, his eyes were trying to pop out of their sockets, and some foreign force was forbidding him to take breath through his nose, making his head throb painfully. But despite all this, he was somehow drawing breath after ragged breath. It was a strange mystery, and in other circumstances, the sensation would have held his curiosity captive. As it was, however, his mind was much too tired to care. He tried to bring his hand up to his face to rub his sore eyes, but found it was weighed down by what felt like rocks. He lifted his lips in a grimace and they cracked painfully. An involuntary groan grated against his raw throat. He sighed heavily through his bleeding lips. He was quite sure that there wasn't a single part of his whole body that didn't hurt. He would have liked to moan despairingly or perhaps punch his flat pillow, but knew that it would only cause more pain. A pity, he thought, that he couldn't even express his frustration with his situation without making that situation worse.

"Will?" A tentative voice asked.

Will's brow furrowed slightly. Now that wasodd. If he didn't know any better, he would have said that Gilan had just called his name. But it was a silly fancy, he knew. Gilan was at the gathering. And Will knew that he was definitely not at the gathering. He was painfully aware of that fact. Halt had insisted that they stay home because Will was sick. The voice must be Halt, Will reasoned. Odd, though, that Halt's voice should sound so high. And accent-less. And young-sounding. The illness is messing with my hearing. Will thought. He ventured to open his eyes. His room was painfully bright this morning, and he squeezed his eyes shut again. He heard footfalls stepping away from his bedside, and then the sound of his curtains pulling across their curtain rod. The footsteps came back towards him.

"Sorry. Try again." Halt said. He sounds so weird.

Will slowly opened his eyes again, squinting slightly. His eyes weren't completely focused yet, but he could see Halt's figure above him, and to his surprise, distinctly made out a mop of blonde hair atop his head, and two blue orbs in place of the dark eyes he knew. Before he could stop himself, he said weakly:

"Halt, what happened to your face?"

The figure laughed. "I think that sickness might be messing with your head, Will. It's Gilan."

"Gilan?" Will managed an incredulous tone, despite his quiet voice. His eyes were focusing. Halt - now Gilan - was smiling at him kindly.

"Hello, Will."

"W-What are you doing here?"

"Taking care of you, of course." Gilan spoke softly and gently, aware that Will's hearing would be sensitive. "You and Halt really need to learn to tell me when you're going to be absent from the gathering. I thought the two of you had gone and gotten yourselves killed."

"Sorry, Gilan," Will started apologetically, "I wanted to come, but Halt thought that-"

"It's alright, Will. Halt was right to keep you home. I was just worrying like a silly old maid. It's good to see you awake, though. You gave Halt and I quite a scare last night. Do you want to sit up?"

Will nodded, and expressed his gratitude when Gilan helped him up into a half-sitting position and put another pillow behind his back.

Will frowned as a thought struck him. "Where is Halt?" he asked.