Ranger's Apprentice One-Shots

Nightmares (After the Kalkara)

He felt as though he was falling. Will couldn't see thing in the darkness surrounding him. There was no sound, no wind, no time or gravity; everything just seemed to have stopped. Suddenly the scene changed. 

Will was now standing outside the small cabin he shared with Halt, his grim-faced mentor who was sitting in his chair on the veranda. "Halt?" the scared boy said, nervous. Halt remained unresponsive and still. Everything seem to spin out of focus...

"Ahhhh!" Will sat up in bed, screaming bloody murder. Not a moment later, Halt came running in, alarmed. "Will, are you alright?" He received no answer, however. It was then that Halt noticed the boy's shoulder's shaking with sobs. 

Sitting on Will's bed, Halt wrapped his young apprentice in his arms, worried. This was the fourth time that week Will had woken up in the middle of the night, screaming in fright. "Hush Will, it's okay. You're safe now." Halt said gently, hoping to soothe the boy who to him, was like a son.

Slowly Will's breathing went back to normal. He stopped crying and began to explain. "It was after Rodney and I got you and the Baron settled and I was on watch. Everything seemed different though, more spooky than before. Every little thing made me jump then it was like I was falling. No wind or sound, time or feeling, nothing. 

"Then I was outside the cabin and you were sitting in your chair on the veranda but you seemed to be dead and everything began to spin and that's when I woke up." He looked at Halt, fear in his eyes. "Oh, Will," the grizzled Ranger said, "None of that was real. I'm alright and we aren't at the Ruins, we're at home."

Halt had released the boy as he explained his nightmare but embraced him once more as Will finished. He went to disengage from his young companion but Will just gripped his shirt tighter. Sighing, Halt gathered up his student and brought him to his own room. Laying down with Will still in his arms, Halt pulled the covers up over them and settled them for the remainder of the night. 

"'Night Will." he said.