Balthazar was worried.

Yes, you heard correctly. No need to read that sentence a million times over to comprehend its meaning, because –yes- the dirty blonde, half crazed and half epic Sorcerer was… Worried. Now, about whom, you ask.

His apprentice, Dave Stutler, the Prime Merilinian.

Granted, he had only known the young Sorcerer for a few weeks, but Balthazar had really taken to him. The somewhat nerdy and nasally tone to his voice, the questioning nature, the quick reflexes of his cunning mind, his inability to lie, and the endless amount of courage- all things that the older man was quite fond of when he thought Dave. And now, no matter how many times the apprentice would deny it, Balthazar could read him like a book. He could read the tiny glimmer of pure emotion that always took home in the center of the college student's irises, and the way Dave bit his bottom lip when he gets frustrated or when he is contemplating something. Yes, Balthazar had been confident of his ability to know what the child was thinking without having to probe his mind –which Dave had asked him to refrain from doing a week ago.

Well… At least he had been confident. Although now, as he gazed at his apprentice from the armchair he sat in across the room, he wasn't so sure that Dave was all right.

Not that he would blame him, of course. It had been two weeks since the battle between the Prime Merilinian and Morgana le Fay had ended (Veronica had killed herself when they released Morgana out of pure cowardism), and hardly anything love wise seemed to be going right for the nerdy apprentice. Dave had stopped seeing Becky about a week after the relationship started. The young one had told him that she had just ignored him once the battle was over, and when Dave did get an evening with her, she only flirted with the other men there. When she took his apprentice to a strip joint, only to stare at the naked male population, Dave said with detest that he wanted nothing to do with her. Balthazar was happy to comply with a Mind Wiping lesson with her as the test subject.

Also, during the aftermath of the battle, his apprentice had left his roommate and moved in permanently to the subway station/lab/training area. Dave had convinced the old Sorcerer to stay with him too. They were staying in the old offices that he had renovated to become a house complete with a kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. And Balthazar had to admit, it was much easier to train now that their house was connected to their old subway station.

But… He could tell something was wrong with Dave. The dark purple circles under his glazed-over honey brown eyes had suggested that he hadn't been sleeping, and the older man could see that he had been losing weight, fifteen pounds maybe. However, the action that bothered him the most were the looks that he could see Dave shoot over at him. It was as if his student was afraid that he would disappear the next time he blinked!

Balthazar shook it off. He was probably just fretting over nothing. David was fine, maybe just a tad stressed over his school work. Yeah, that would explain the lack of sleep and the weight loss… Definitely stress. The dirty blonde nodded to himself as he walked with a cat-like grace to Dave's desk, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. The teacher felt his charge flinch at the touch, only to relax when he saw his master standing behind him.

"I think," Balthazar's words rolled silkily off of his tongue as he plastered on a smirk, "I'm going to turn in for the night, Dave. I suggest you do the same, unless, of course you'd like to work yourself to death."

But Dave only shrugged. The apprentice turned back to his essay on molecular division, scribbling with a tiny ball point pen. As he did this he said hastily, "I can't I really need to get this paper finished. It's due next week and I want to have it done so it's done and I won't have to deal with it anymore. It'll be done." Dave didn't even take a breath as he babbled as his eyes darted across his essay like a madman. "I hate dealing with papers and essays and just about anything else that has to deal with writing. Writing sucks and I hope I can learn a spell that would write it for me. Spells are cool. When are we learning new spells? I wish that-"

A firm, but gentle hand muffled the young man's chattering mouth.

"Shut up, Dave you're giving me a migraine." Balthazar spoke with a finalized tone. "I did not just go through a thousand and three hundred years to get an apprentice to have him go mad from lack of sleep. It would have been a horrible waste of time."

"But Balthazar!" Dave half whinned half pouted as he pried back the man's hand, "If I don't get this done-"

The mentor was not to be swayed, however much Dave wanted him to leave him alone. It was painfully obvious that the younger man needed some serious rest. He looked dead on his feet. "I don't recall that it was up for discussion, apprentice. Bed. Now."

Seeing that he wouldn't win, Dave sighed in resignation. Balthazar watched as he stood up from his desk, and brushed away the firm hand that he had placed on his shoulder, only for the student to become light-headed and drop when he took his first step. Weightlessness looked to momentarily take over Dave's body as his head led the tumble to the hard cobblestone floor.

A jolt of panic swept into the elder Sorcerer. He ran forward as Dave crumpled to the ground, barely catching him as he fell. Balthazar let his warm arms enveloped his apprentice's thin body, keeping him from falling from his grip and onto the floor. A moment passed before the young man's glazed eyes hesitantly cracked open to see the familiar smirking face of his mentor towering over him. David's face burned as embarrassment must have flown through him, causing a bright blush to erupt onto his face.

Balthazar let out a snicker of laughter at his student's embarrassment, although inside he was still trying to calm his rapidly thumping heart from the fear that had pulsed through it. His worry had turned to intense fear, now. This was definitely not from a simple case of nerves or stress if his charge couldn't stay on his feet! But Balthazar smothered his fear and concern behind a mask of amusement.

"I never realized that a person's face could get so red," he commented lightly to the young one in his arms, only to receive a scowl in return. Dave opened his mouth to either reprimand the man or to thank him –Balthazar will never know- but any words that were going to be spoken, were quickly silenced by a deep yawn.

Balthazar felt the corners of his mouth quirk up. "You know Dave, I hate to say that I told you so, but… I told you so." He hoisted the frail apprentice deeper into his arms as he stood up, carrying Dave bridal style to the house.

"I could just levitate myself, you know." the older Sorcerer heard the young one huff as his cheeks grew even redder.

Balthazar just grimaced with his reply, "You can barely walk, Dave. There is no way that you would have nearly enough strength to lift yourself, and if I levitated you then your magic would naturally want to fight with the conflicting magic." The Sorcerer continued with a small glimmer of warning in his blue irises. "And since you are too weak to handle your body naturally warding something off… Well, I really don't feel like having to carry you all the way to the morgue. You're sort of heavy."

Dave paled, rushing out a quick, "Never mind you carrying me is great."

Balthazar nodded in agreement as he opened the door to the far right of the subway station. He entered the house, casting the usual security enchantments behind him. The living room opened up to him, and he laid his exhausted apprentice down on a comfy chocolate brown couch. He didn't want to have the poor kid wait any longer for the sleep he desperately needed, so the Sorcerer figured that a makeshift bed downstairs would work. Besides, this way, he could keep an eye on his trouble attracting apprentice. Then, when Balthazar seemed to internally agree with the idea, his hand waved to the stairs, and Dave's pillow and blanket floated down the stairway and onto the now asleep apprentice.

He felt a genuine smile creep past his lips at how relaxed Dave looked when he slept. The sweet oblivion must have been treating him well, since all worry lines on the kid's face had dissipated, along with the tight non-relaxed muscles that had been so high strung, that Balthazar could've sworn that Dave was waiting for someone to creep up behind him and stab him or something.

The old Sorcerer let out a quiet groan. After all that had happened that night…. He needed some air. Balthazar took another glance at his apprentice before turning around and just as he was about to open the door, he froze.

"Don't go," Dave's small, pleading voice cut through the peaceful silence like a knife, wounding his mentor's heart. "Please, don't leave me."

Balthazar spun back to the apprentice with wide eyes. He closed the distance between them with his powerful strides, until he got close enough to the moaning boy that he realized that Dave was still asleep. He was dreaming.

And thrashing!

The kid's limbs were flying everywhere as Dave started sobbing in his sleep. "PLEASE! DON'T GO!" He screeched.

Balthazar tried to restrain the young man by attempting to pin his arms to the couch, but it seemed to make him panic even more. So instead, the Sorcerer took the sobbing young one in his arms, like he had when he had caught him. His arms coiled around Dave's chest, trapping the kid's arms without making it feel like someone was actually restraining him. Balthazar let a sickening instinct of some kind take over as he hummed in the child's ear comfortingly as he rocked him back and forth. Dave had even sunk into his mentor's chest at one point to cry into his cotton black button up shirt under his trench coat, soaking it completely. His screams had let up a bit too. They lessened to a few whimpers and the occasional, "Please! I'm sorry."

And suddenly, Balthazar realized just what had been troubling his apprentice. It wasn't his school work or even Becky, but his nightmares. They probably didn't let him actually sleep restfully, which would explain the exhaustion and also the lack of appetite and loss of weight. Poor Dave was most likely too confused or distraught to eat. That means that he needed to get him out of that dream so his apprentice could actually get a portion of a good night's sleep.

"Dave," Balthazar said in his ear with a shake. "Dave." He tried to get louder, but as the Sorcerer increased his volume, Dave responded by sobbing louder and louder, as if it upset him.

He considered other ways of waking him. For example: dumping water on him, or screaming as loud as possible in his ear. However, Balthazar looked at the delicate apprentice sobbing on his chest, and dumped all thoughts of cruelly waking him.

But… there was a page in the Incantus that struck a chord with this situation. It was a spell named, "Dream Weaver". This spell –if properly done- could allow a Sorcerer to travel into another's subconscious, and take part in the dream.

Yes, that would work.

Balthazar placed two fingers on the apprentice's forehead, and concentrated on phased his way into Dave's dream.

I don't own the Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010.

Thank you all for reading, and please review! The next chapter should be up shortly!

kirby