Greetings! Here's my next chapter! And only, like, two days after my last update! Australia Post isn't even that efficient (don't quote me on that; my sources aren't that reliable)!

Halt is really out of character in this chapter, but once again, it is all part of the story and an effect from the spell. Basically, this isn't all the Halt we know and love.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice

I wanted Baron Arald to say that, but I blew the budget this chapter.

Halt sat on the veranda of the small cottage, feeling utterly bored. Will and Gilan had left for the village while he was still eating breakfast, claiming they were going to catch up with Alyss and Jenny. Typical, Halt thought, Gilan isn't even here two days and he's already chasing after women. Halt just didn't understand why they hadn't let him come. He could've waited around the village, or even Castle Redmont.

It didn't occur to him that they'd left him at home because he'd wandered off yesterday; that was too long ago to think about in his mind at the moment.

Halt wandered into his bedroom and found his longbow. Even as it leaned against the wall it towered over him, just like everything else did in the miserable world of his forcibly repeated childhood. He wondered, not for the first time, if he'd ever be back to normal.

Probably not.

He'd have to wait until he was fifteen again before he could even become an apprentice Ranger. Then what would happen? he thought. Who would apprentice him in the first place? He tried to shake these thoughts away. They were going to get him back to normal, he was sure of it.

In the meantime, his main problem was deciding what to do until his companions returned.

Then he got an idea.

He would be a Ranger.

He snuck outside, climbed a large tree on the edge of the clearing and from there scanned the area. He saw a flutter of movement in the bushes as someone ran back into the forest. Halt scrambled down from the tree and raced after them. It was a bandit; a wanted thief with a massive bounty on his head, and Halt was a heroic King's Ranger, out to catch him.

This was all in Halt's imagination of course, which suddenly seemed to be working a hundred times more creatively than it had in years. He was aware all of this was pretend, but he didn't care; he was having far too much fun. He ran back into the clearing, just as Will and Gilan returned. Both of them stared in awe as he dashed past them, and wondered what on earth had gotten into him. Will leapt off Tug and grabbed the boy by the arm.

"Halt! What's going on?" he asked, bewildered and just a little worried for his teacher.

"Quick Will! The bandit's getting away, we have to stop him!" Halt wriggled out of Will's grip and sped away again.

"Wait Halt, come back! What bandit? Halt!" Will called after him, chasing the boy back into the forest.

"Wait up!" Gilan shouted, dismounting Blaze and sprinting after his companions.

Halt was barely thinking for himself. It was as if something else was driving him forward as he ran, like his sudden excitement had a mind of its own. As hard as he tried, he couldn't stop.

Will and Gilan had no idea what was going on. Neither of them could be sure if Halt had gone mad or there really was a bandit loose in the forest. They could see the boy just ahead of them, bounding over snow-covered logs, bushes and ground that didn't even need to be avoided.

As he leapt over another log, his foot clipped it and he was sent head over heels into the snow, letting out a startled cry.

"Halt!" both his apprentices raced towards him.

Halt winced as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. He pulled up his trouser leg and looked down at his knee to inspect his new injury. It was little more than a graze, mostly made up of broken skin, with barely any blood at all.

Somehow however, Halt felt like someone might as well be tearing his leg off. The pain was absolutely unbearable! Tears began to fill his eyes. They spilled over and streamed down his face. He let out a little sob – the first in years.

No! He couldn't even dare let out another; it was humiliating enough letting these tears fall. He could feel another sob bubbling up inside his throat, but he managed to rein it in as Will and Gilan came to crouch beside him.

"Are you alright?" Will asked.

Gilan couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Halt's tear-stained face, "Halt, are you crying?"

They were more than taken aback. Halt had had more than his fair share of injuries during his years as a Ranger, and he chose to cry over a graze?

"Of course not!" the boy snapped grumpily, after stealthily dashing a hand across his face to wipe away the tears. "When I tripped, a twig flew up into my eyes and they watered a bit."

Gilan couldn't let this opportunity pass. He pulled the protesting child into a mock embrace, patting his back soothingly.

"Aw, did you hurt yourself Halt? Poor thing. Let it out, it's al-"

"Gilan!" Halt roared, struggling out of the young man's grip.

"What?" Gilan tried to look innocent.

Halt scowled at him sourly, "You're asking for it Gilan. I told you, I'm not crying."

Will looked doubtful. Gilan was grinning like the idiot he was.

"I just grazed my knee, that's all. I'm fine," he insisted.

"Alright then," Will said sceptically, helping Halt to his feet. "Let's just get that knee cleaned and then this never happened," he promised.

"Well maybe it didn't happen in your mind, but I'm never forgetting this, and I'll make sure you don't either, Halt" Gilan smiled.

They started back to the cottage in silence. Will was beginning to get concerned about Halt. He was sure there was an underlying reason for his strange behaviour – from chasing imaginary villains to the tears over a graze.

Gilan on the other hand was thinking about how else he could mock his mentor.

No one could tell what Halt was thinking. He'd already put on that grim mask he could hide so many emotions under.

Halt sat in a large tree on the edge of the clearing, thinking hard. He had an idea, but he just had to think of how to carry it out. Perhaps it was too early anyway.

Or perhaps now was just the right time.

He climbed a little further out on the small branch, and it sagged dangerously under his weight. He ignored the signs that it was about to give way, too caught up in his own thoughts to care. He grabbed the branch with both hands, then dropped off and hung there, his legs dangling far above the ground. He began to swing back and forth on the branch out of boredom, doing strange little kicks and twists in the air.

Will sat down at the table, coffee in one hand, and picked up a report to read. Gilan sipped at his own mug of coffee, and stared out the window at the sky. Neither of them had any idea what Halt was doing beyond the fact he was outside. After he'd cleaned his knee (insisting on doing it himself), he'd just left his companions to their own devices.

Suddenly, the two Rangers heard an almighty CRACK! outside and a frightened cry, followed by a sickening thud. They quickly exchanged worried glances, before they both bolted out the door and across the clearing.

They spotted Halt instantly. The child lay sprawled in the snow under a fallen tree branch, unmoving.

"Halt!" Will cried.

As they ran towards him, Gilan noticed a small trickle of scarlet running down the boy's face from somewhere on the side of his head.

"Oh God. Quick, help me get this branch off him," Gilan instructed.

The two men hauled the branch off their fallen mentor, and Will came to crouch beside the boy. He panicked when he saw the trickle of what he knew was blood and rolled Halt on his back without considering what injuries that action could affect.

"Will, try not to move him too much. He could have broken something," Gilan said as he crouched beside Will.

He carefully shook Halt's shoulder, "Halt? Can you hear me?"

Gilan withdrew his hand, and the boy remained silent. The Rangers waited for something… anything.

Halt suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Will.

He screamed.

That made his companions scream in sudden fright as well.

Halt recovered quickly however, and his scream morphed into laughter. Will and Gilan fell silent as they watched the child laugh his head off. After a few moments, Halt composed himself enough to speak.

He sighed with amusement, "You should've seen your faces, that was classic! And you screamed like two little girls!"

Will and Gilan were completely bewildered. It took them a moment to realise what had just happened.

"Wait, you're not hurt? That was just a joke?" Will asked.

"Of course," Halt said.

"B-but, the blood, you… How?" Gilan couldn't believe Halt had thought of something so creative.

Halt held out a hand, and in his palm were a couple of little red berries. When he clenched his fist, crushing the berries, their scarlet juice ran down his arm.

The two young Rangers above him were speechless; but their shocked expressions quickly turned to anger.

"Lighten up, will you?" Halt grumbled. "No harm done. Was there?" he asked uncertainly, seeing that neither Will nor Gilan had 'lightened up' in the slightest.

He got up and stomped off, muttering grumpily about boredom, jokes and addle brained apprentices.

"Alright, you've got to admit there was a fair bit of thought put into that," Gilan said to Will.

"Yes, but pranks are supposed to be funny, that was serious," Will had been so worried Halt was actually injured that he couldn't believe it when the boy just laughed at him.

"Well I tip my hat to him. That was pretty imaginative. Reminds me of something I'd do."

"Yes, it was creative," Will agreed. "But it wasn't Halt."

Pandora waved goodbye to the unsuspecting farming family as she walked away. She'd stayed with them for a couple of days while she recovered from her exhaustion after the spell on Halt she'd conjured, but she had to keep moving. She strolled across the field towards the nearing hill; when she was finally over it, she would conjure up a more practical means of transport. She just couldn't do it in front of anyone – it was far too risky.

Winter truly is magical, she thought as she watched the snow-covered forest on the edge of the field. It really sparked one's creativity. That reminded her; Halt should be moving into the next stage today…

Imagination.

Wow, Halt really was out of character in this chapter, wasn't he? Oh well...

I made him tear up when he hurt himself because that's what young children are like; they could have claimed they hurt themselves and be absolutely bawling, but when you check their injury you see barely anything there (it's actually a little endearing sometimes).

Hey, what did you think of this chapter anyway? I'm not sure how good it is...

Your reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated.