In My Sleep

Summary: Cedric's sleeping schedule is completely off-balance since making a breakthrough with several spells. As a result, when Sofia comes to him for some magical assistance, she's surprised to find that her mentor is going to attempt to help her…while sleepwalking.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

A/N: A little discussion with Iwish2remainNameless led to this lovely short story. Lol. I'm still on my writing break for the most part, but it helps settle my mind to have something fun to write amid the craziness of work life sometimes. I also have one more story in the works thanks to MarionetteJ2X, who has been helping me bounce some ideas back and forth! 😉 With that said, hope you all enjoy!

Note: The GuardoRing makes yet another appearance in here. 😉 "Dream Team" is its first appearance, if you're unaware of what it is! Also, this is meant to be just a sweet, silly, adorable little side story. The GuardoRing incident mentioned in here, though, may have some significance later on. We'll see. :D

*Story*

Thirty hours. Or thirty-one, maybe… Cedric had lost count as to just how many hours straight he'd been awake. In fact, he'd locked himself inside his workshop and plowed through several successful spells. It was so strange… After years of ineffective spellcasting or creating, suddenly (with a renewed sense of confidence and purpose, thanks to Sofia and the encouragement he'd received from the royal family and his own family), the royal sorcerer finally found his niche and was doing rather well.

Of course, the exciting breakthrough came with a price: exhaustion. Cedric was used to being tired, though. He couldn't recall just how many times Roland had requested a last-minute potion in the past and he'd had to stay awake through the night just to perfect it and present it to the king. He didn't have to know that the sorcerer had barricaded himself in his room and slept for hours after Roland left. Suffice it to say, he deserved that rest after everything was said and done.

But this? This was different. This new discovery of spells was done of his own accord. Roland hadn't requested it. Come to think of it, the king in question hadn't really asked him for anything specific in a while. He just allowed him to do his job, which was a pleasant feeling. Perhaps things between them really were changing for the better.

However, the overwhelming sense of tiredness couldn't and wouldn't be ignored much longer. The sorcerer's movements were becoming more erratic and unfocused. He was shaking his head more often, attempting to will himself into alertness. His arms and legs felt like jelly and hardly functioned properly. And he could feel the chills starting to set in—the chills he got when he knew he was really tired.

"Just…one more spell," he insisted with a yawn as he peered into his spell book, his eyes bleary and unfocused, his eyelids feeling heavier. "At this point, I could do this in my sleep, but… I…have to finish this now…"

It was barely even dusk, but considering he'd worked through the night and all day long, his body was starting to punish him for lack of sleep. If he went to sleep now, he'd miss Sofia's visit, and he didn't want that. He had a wonderful lesson in store for her today—one that dealt with…oh, what was that spell he wanted to teach her again?

Cedric frowned, trying to recall his train of thought. "Something…" Another yawn escaped him. "Something to do with…something." He nodded. "Yep. That's what it was." He finished copying notes for his final spell before rubbing at his eyes. "Perhaps…a quick nap won't hurt. Sofia's not due here for another hour anyway." His mind made up, Cedric stumbled a few times before finally making it to his room and kicking off his shoes, sliding into his bed and pulling the covers over himself.

A content sigh escaped him as his head hit the pillow, and his mind shut down completely as he finally gave in to sleep.

Hardly forty-five minutes had passed when a knock sounded at the door. As if on autopilot, Cedric stood from his bed, foregoing his shoes for a change, and returned to the workshop. He briskly opened the door, smiling toward his apprentice—or at least he thought he was smiling at her. "How lovely to see you, my dear."

Baileywick, who had just arrived with a case of new vials and beakers for the workshop, merely raised an eyebrow at the clearly unfocused sorcerer before him. "What a delightful sentiment, Cedric," he drawled sarcastically before shoving the case into his fellow worker's awaiting hands. "Something tells me that you've not been getting much sleep again?"

"You're much taller than before, Sofia," Cedric rambled as he blinked rapidly. "And your voice certainly has changed. I'm afraid you're beginning to sound more like Baileywick. You poor dear."

Slightly offended, the steward scoffed before glancing down, noticing that the actual princess had arrived. "He's all yours," he murmured with a roll of his eyes. "It doesn't appear that he's gotten much sleep recently."

Sofia just smiled as she shook her head. "Unfortunately, that's nothing new… I'll take care of him. Thanks, Baileywick." She walked into the workshop and shut the door behind her as she observed her mentor staring blankly at the case of new materials. "Mr. Cedric, are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine, my dear," he responded airily as he finally set the materials onto the work table. "We've got a lesson to conduct, do we not?" He then put one hand to his forehead. "The troublesome thing is, I can't seem to recall what lesson we were supposed to be doing!"

She just smiled uncertainly and climbed onto her seat. "It's okay, Mr. Cedric. We don't have to do a lesson tonight. But I was wondering about something that only you could help with." She narrowed her eyes curiously as she realized Cedric seemed to be staring just past her instead of making eye contact, but she brushed it off. She removed her GuardoRing and set it on the table. "My ring that you gave me is acting kind of weird. It's been glowing at random times, it's tried making a shield when I didn't even need it, and sometimes it gets really hot to the point where I have to take it off." She frowned as she looked back toward the sorcerer. "What do you think could be wrong?"

"Blueberry pie," he responded matter-of-factly, yawning and leaning against the table before lowering his head onto his folded arms. He smiled proudly toward his friend.

Sofia blinked a few times. "Huh?"

"I could really go for some blueberry pie right now," he admitted, a sound akin to a tiny snore following up as he slowly closed his eyes.

"Mr. Cedric!" Sofia pressed her hands firmly against the table and frowned in concern as he appeared to fall asleep. "Seriously?" She made a small sound of annoyance before leaning over and shaking his shoulder. "Mr. Cedric, wake up."

"I'm not…not awake," Cedric responded as he opened his eyes again before standing and wielding his wand. "Sofia, fear not! I shall destroy this evil creature!" He lowered his wand to the GuardoRing, which was lying innocently on the table.

"No!" She grabbed up the ring and jumped aside just as Cedric called out a random spell, which etched a deep cut into the wood. "Mr. Cedric, what's gotten into you?" Looking toward him more closely, she gasped as she noticed how completely unfocused he seemed. He didn't even have shoes on. "…Are you sleeping right now?"

"Shh," he insisted, pressing one finger against her lips and causing her to blink in surprise. "We mustn't let the dragons know we've found their secret hiding place. They'll never share their cookies with us anyway. Therefore, I'm afraid drastic action is the only way."

Sofia grabbed his hand and lowered it, sighing. "Great… He's sleeping and dreaming." It finally clicked as she gaped at him. "Mr. Cedric, I think you're sleepwalking."

"That's preposterous," he declared as he sheathed the wand again. "I've not sleptwalked—er, sleepwalked… Huh, that's a weird word." He chuckled tiredly. "I don't do that often!"

"Except when you're really tired, I think," she summarized, guiding him to a chair. "I didn't see you at all yesterday. Dad said you'd locked your door and were working really hard on something." She frowned in concern. "Did you even sleep last night?"

Cedric pondered the question before responding, "Thirty-one-ish hours since…"

"Since what?"

"Since I've slept," he admitted, sighing.

"Mr. Cedric!" she replied, exasperated. "You have to sleep! You can't just keep working at all hours. You're going to hurt yourself."

Cedric felt a bit of sense coming back to him, though he also felt overwhelmingly tired. "I…had to, Sofia," he yawned with his hand up to his mouth. "Once I started, I couldn't stop."

"Are you actually awake and talking to me now?" she wondered, noting that he was now looking at her rather than past her. However, he did appear quite sleepy.

"Mm…" He shook his head and looked around. "Have I been here the whole time? I could have sworn I had decided to take a nap earlier…"

She smiled in understanding. "I'm pretty sure you were sleepwalking. You told me you'd been awake for thirty-one hours."

He smiled sheepishly as he noted the chiding look on his apprentice's face. "I believe that's quite accurate, I'm afraid." He glanced down as he noticed that she seemed to be tightly holding something. He lifted her hand and unfurled her fingers, blinking at the GuardoRing. "What's happened with this?"

"It's been acting weird, but we can figure it out when you're more awake."

"Weird, how?" Sleep-deprived or not, he was still determined to keep his friend safe and secure. It was like second nature at this point.

"It's gotten really hot, it's been randomly glowing and making shields on its own…" She shrugged as he took the ring from her. "I wasn't sure what was going on with it…"

Cedric retrieved his wand and aimed it shakily toward the ring, murmuring, "Reparo." Satisfied with the gentle sparkle emitting from the pink gem, he nodded and took her right hand, sliding the ring back onto her finger. "It should be fine now. Perhaps it was a simple glitch. If it does that again, bring it straight to me, no matter what time it is." Seeing her nod, he smiled before shivering a bit, the feeling of exhaustion washing over him again.

"You, bed, now." Sofia pulled the sorcerer to his feet and began guiding him toward his bedroom. "I can't believe you worked for thirty-one hours straight. Did you even eat?"

"I honestly don't remember," he told her with a minor shrug. "I'll perhaps rectify that in the morning." He then glanced down at her. "But what am I to tell your father if he comes looking for me?"

"I'll handle Dad. You just get some rest." She smiled sweetly and helped him into his bed, pulling the covers over him. She placed one hand on his cheek before telling him sternly, "And don't you ever do that again."

Cedric chuckled in amusement. "Yes, Mother," he joked, earning a light tap to his forehead. "Thanks, Sofia."

She giggled as she gestured toward the GuardoRing. "Thank you, Mr. Cedric. For everything. Sleep well." She smiled toward him once more before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

The sorcerer smiled in contentment before closing his eyes and drifting off.

The end