A.N.: Hey, I am back! In case you just..idk. randomly stumble onto this, this is a sequel to Words Aren't What They Mean. It might be a little bit difficult to understand some of the parts if you have not read the first book/story. I am really bad at summarizations for stories, so I can't really summarize the first part. I am so sowwie. When I have the time, I think I will do a recap for the first story. Or maybe not.

Title: Clash Of Reunion

Author: Kawazoe Kumiko

Disclaimers: Do not own Ranger's Apprentice or any familiar character from Ranger's apprentice that you might see in this story.

*NOTE*: Book 2, sequel to Words Aren't What They Mean.

Prologue

Raising his hand and barely keeping the excitement out of him, Will knocked on the heavy oak wood door to the small meeting room. Finally, after two weeks of staying at the cabin and shooting arrows to no end, he was finally getting a mission.

"Come in." The voice was muffled by the door and he pushed it opened.

"Good morning, Will. Good morning, Halt." Gilan, as cheerful as always, greeted them.

The rest mumbled along the line. Will took his time to give them a glance. Crowley the head ranger, Horace his best friend, King Duncan, and Gilan were all present and already seated. The old ranger and the boy took the last two remaining seat before Crowley cleared his throat and began.

"Thank you for giving us your time to be here." He began.

Not that he had any other choices, Will thought as a grin threatened to break through his face. Gilan, to the right of him, elbowed him slightly to wipe it off his face.

"As much as I wanted to ignore this request," Crowley said, a look of dismay passed over his face then disappeared, "Our dear friend in Skandia requested the help from the rangers."

Will swallowed as Crowley produced a crumbled letter and continued, "Our dear friend said he had ran into a small little problem back in his home and he is desperately in need of our help. Particularly from someone who is an expert at shooting, like a ranger."

All eyes turned toward Halt, or so Will thought. He did not noticed the fleeting glance most of them gave toward him before landing on Halt. The ranger at the center of the sudden attention shifted uncomfortably and Crowley coughed to get their attention back.

"Our dear friend had send us a letter a few days ago and we received it yesterday." Crowley continued, "I will now read you his letter."

Will hid his snicker behind a cough as Crowley unfolded the crumpled paper with disgust evident in his face, "To people of Araluen. I might have ran into a small trouble here in Skandia. I hope this letter will reach you in time. We are desperately in need of your rangers' help. Please come at once after you have receive this letter. We await your arrival."

"Because of our treaty with the Skandians," Crowley glanced uncomfortably to the once-traitor before continuing, "I do not think we can avoid this plea for help, no matter how fake it might sound to us. Our dear friend-"

"Just say Erak, Crowley." King Duncan sighed from the side, "I do believe we all have enough of this 'Our dear friend' phrase."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Crowley coughed loudly and continued, "Erak, the Oberjarl of Skandia, had unfortunately requested our help, therefore we cannot ignore it. Since he had requested for rangers, I believe I have to send at least one ranger to Skandia."

"I am not going." Halt spoke up as soon as he finished talking, "I am definitely not going."

"Halt, are you that afraid of ships?" Gilan teased from Will's right.

A low growl from his left shut the tall ranger up almost immediately. Crowley continued talking as if nothing had happened.

"For this mission, we will be sending Halt-"

"I said I am not going!" Halt interrupted.

"Gilan, Horace, and Will." Crowley finished.

"Wait, I am going?" The brunet between the tall ranger and the ranger with seasickness asked in surprise.

"Yes, you are going." Crowley said with a strained smile, "We are giving you a chance to redeem your title as a King's ranger. If this mission turned out to be successful, we will consider giving you the title back."

Will's smile grew wider by the moment, "Thank you!"

"Don't thank me," Crowley huffed, "His Majesty suggested it."

The brunet turned toward the king and received a slight smile. It was the king's decision, huh…Will thought. He was slightly disappointed. So the ranger department hadn't even consider letting him back. Then he was fueled with determination. Alright, he will finish this mission perfectly, then he will get back into the rangers.

At the thought of rangers, it slowly turned into the assassins. He sighed. His memory had returned two weeks prior and it haunted him day and night, replaying Halt and Crowley's conversation over and over again. The assassins are dead. He shivered. As much as he wanted to hold on to them, he couldn't deny the truth. They are dead, and they are never coming back. And it was all his fault. If he hadn't mess up the mission, none of this would have happen. He will have been with K, Morten and Arch. He will be in Skandia, rather than Araluen, getting grounded like a kid. None of this would have happened, if he hadn't been there to mess it up.

"Will?" Gilan nudged him gently and it jerked him out of his thoughts, "Are you okay? You are kind of pale all of a sudden."

"No, I am fine." Will reassured him, "Just thinking of Erak and his stinky crew."

Gilan laughed at that, "I know."

The tall ranger had come back to Castle Araluen a few days ago for this mission. His fief was currently and temporarily occupied by a different ranger during his absence. The light brown haired ranger had been very close to Will ever since coming back. By close, he meant literally. He was always there whenever he went into the forests. He always accompany him out in the morning. Whenever he was going further than the first ring of forest around the cabin, Gilan will asked to follow him. Will didn't dislike that, he actually enjoyed Gilan's company. But lately, the brunet had begun to wonder as to why the light brown haired was sticking to him closer than a glue could.

"Then that ends our meeting today." Crowley said, crumbling the paper and placed it back into his pocket uncaringly, "I will give you time to pack. The ship is by the port of the Narrow Sea at around noon. Our dear fr-, I mean, Erak, had kindly sent us a ship."

The four that were sent on the mission stood up and left, leaving the king and Crowley in the room.

Walking back to the stable, Gilan struck up a conversation, "You are finally having a mission, Will!"

"Yeah." Will said, barely concealing his excitement, "It had been a long time. A really long time."

A.N.: There goes Prologue. Phew. This story is gonna be another long journey. Do bear with me tho! ~ ^ ^ ~