Ranger's Apprentice One-Shots

Forgotten But Not Lost

A throbbing headache was the first sensation that the boy became aware of when he started to gain conscious. He opened his eyes a crack to see a blurry, dark form hovering above him, but quickly shut them again for the sun was blinding. A voice called to him, but he couldn't sort through the words that drifted around him.

"-ill. Will? Can you hear me?" The voice became clearer and the form above him moved to block out the sunlight that burned into his face. The youth groaned and reached up to the side of his head as a stabbing pain sliced through his skull, only to feel the texture of cloth.

The boy slowly opened his eyes again, ready to snap them shut the moment the light decided to attack his sensitive retinas once more. Leaning over him, the blurry form sharpened to a grizzled, middle aged man gazing at him with dark, piercing eyes. "How do you feel?" The man asked in a low voice.

The boy opened his mouth to answer, but his throat was so dry that his words came out as a painful rasp. The man held the youth's head up and brought a water flash to his lips, slowly trickling the cool liquid into his cottony mouth; the relief was almost instant. The calloused hands gently lowered his head back to the ground when he had his fill.

The lad lay there quietly for a moment to regain some of his depleted energy. Finally, he propped himself up onto his elbows and winced when the throbbing in his head increased.

"Careful. Not too fast." The man cautioned, who was still kneeing patiently beside him.

"Thank you." The youth said gratefully, but then looked around in bewilderment, suddenly realizing something. "Where am I? What happened?" He sat up and looked at the stranger with confused eyes. The man looked familiar to him, but for the life of him, he couldn't place any name. He had no idea where or how he would know him, just that he did know him somehow. "Who are you?" He asked cautiously. Did he know him for a long time, or was this a recent thing? Was he familiar because he was the one who caused his injury, or was he a long known friend? Friend of his parents maybe? Wait, who was his parents?

The man's eyes widened. "What do you mean? Will, it's Halt. What's wrong?" The man, Halt, questioned with horror tingeing his voice.

The disoriented boy held a hand to his bandaged forehead in an attempt to gather his scattered thoughts together and remember anything before he woke up. He shook his head. "No." The lad whispered. "I- I don't- What's my name? What happened?" A great sense of loss expanded in his mind as he desperately racked his brain for anything personal. This man is familiar: why did he know him? Who is his family? Was the person in front of him one of them? What was his name? He clutched his head in agony when he became more aware of how much pain he was in. The throbbing headache became splitting and a new wave tore through his skull. "Agh!" He yelled.

"Will!"

Suddenly, a whinny tore through the air- startling the youth- as a shaggy pony came into view. The pony stopped at the recovering figure's side, bent it's sturdy neck, and snorted in his face.

The lad yelped and jumped to his feet in a rush, but immediately regretted it as his head swam unbearably. His legs wobbled and gave out from under him when the man caught him just before he hit the ground.

"Will! Calm down and lie still!" Halt ordered. He tried to support his young companion, but the boy weakly pushed him away. The boy didn't want to be touched right now. He hated that this Halt was so familiar with him, but he couldn't understand why or how.

The little pony, distressed by the boy's actions, stayed where it was and looked at him quizzically with an almost hurt expression in it's eyes.

Halt knew he was crowding him and didn't want Will to run off, so he also stepped back. "Let me help you." He said in a reasoning voice. "If you come with me, then I can get you to a physician."

The youth shook his head. "Why should I trust you?" He challenged. The reason he could be familiar could be just that he was the cause of his loss of memory after all. Just because he knew he knew him doesn't mean that it is a good relationship. It's better to be safe.

Some emotion showed through the man's dark eyes, but the boy couldn't identify it before it had already vanished. "Do you see any other- safer options? You are in no condition to go anywhere. Look at yourself, you can barely stand! Do you really want to take the risk of striking out on your own with no food, drink, or coin, and no family or friends- that you can remember- to turn to?" Halt took out a necklace from under his tunic and held out a gleaming pendant toward him. "This is a silver oak leaf, a symbol of the Ranger corps. If you look, you will have the same symbol, but bronze because you are a ranger in training. You're name is Will and you have been my apprentice for about three years."

Three years? He'd been with him for three years?

Will- if that was his name- reached under his similar tunic's neckline and pulled out the same necklace, but different material like the man had said. But he still eyed the longbow and knives that he noticed earlier the man was carrying.

Halt knew what his apprentice was thinking. "If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have tended to you and waited for you to wake up. Also, you own the same weaponry."

The boy checked his side. Halt was right; there was a couple of knives at his side and, nearby, a smaller bow and quiver.

Halt felt like he was getting through to the boy and one more thing would tip him to make the right decision. "You need help. Come with me and I'll explain everything." This was Halt's last hope. He knew that he couldn't let Will be on his own. If his apprentice still chose to run off, then the ranger would drag him back if need be.

Slowly, the boy came to a decision. He still didn't trust the man who claimed to be his master, but there was no other more appealing option. He felt so weak, his legs were uncoordinated, he felt nauseous, and he was sporting a massive headache. He also knew that he wouldn't last out here in the condition that he's in for very long. Will kept his reserves to himself though and nodded, "I'll go." He agreed.