039: Dreams - Nightmares

Halt first noticed the problem about an hour into his watch.

Will and Horace lay across the camp from him, on the other side of their fire. They had sprawled onto the ground next to each other, so Halt didn't blink when Horace had laid his bedroll mere inches from Will's to continue their conversation from dinner. They'd both eventually fallen asleep, Halt already setting up to take first watch, knowing the two of them were probably tired. They were falling into their normal way of things—Halt taking first shift, Will second, Horace third.

Everything was fine for the first hour: the forest was quiet around them, the two younger men slept silently, breathing evenly and (hilariously) in-sync. Halt was just preparing to take a short walk around the area when he noticed it.

Will was turning in his sleep.

And not the natural sort either. Halt had spent enough time with his apprentice—former apprentice—that he knew that Will slept relatively still, barely moving throughout the night. He turned his head a few times, sure, but no more than that. Now, though, Halt could just make out Will's scrunched face through the dark. His arm went over his abdomen, gripping his side as if he were in pain. Now that Halt had paused and noticed his apprentice's odd behavior, he heard it.

Will was whimpering in his sleep.

Horace still lay next to him, dead asleep from the looks of things. As Halt watched, Will turned onto his side, his back to Horace, and he moved his arms to cover his head. He was curling in on himself, drawing his knees up to his chest, the cloak over him becoming tangled as he twisted and moved in his spot.

At any other time, Halt would gently shake Will awake and talk him through the rest of the panic attack. He would still think he's in the middle of the dream, wherever he'd be that time, and Halt would whisper to him until his breathing returned to normal and he was able to drift off again. Normally, this only happened during the winter months or after stressful events.

And normally, Horace wouldn't be around.

Halt could recall, months ago, Will asking him to leave him alone if this happened while Horace was with them. Not that Will was embarrassed by it, but because, as Will had said, Horace was under the assumption that Will was over this kind of thing. Horace didn't know that Will still went through these panic attacks day and night.

Every sense in Halt's body told him to go over to Will, stepping over Horace, to shake him awake. He couldn't stand to see Will thrash in his sleep like this. But knowing how these things went, Horace would certainly wake up and wonder what was going on while Will calmed down. No matter what Halt did for this situation, someone would have to suffer.

Closing his eyes, Halt made a choice. He would take the walk around the area, scouting their general surroundings as he had been planning to do. If he returned and Will was still turning in his sleep, Halt would wake him up. He would deal with Horace later, telling him to not question Will and to leave him alone until Will felt up to talking.

Slipping from the area, Halt's heart shattered as he heard Will whimper again, his apprentice sounding absolutely broken and terrified in that moment. But Halt had made a promise to Will to leave Horace out of this. If it turned out to be a short nightmare, Halt would leave it alone—but if he returned and Will was still stuck in his panic, Halt would have to break his promise. He wasn't going to let his son suffer more than he already had.

Horace woke maybe two minutes after Halt left.

Some sixth sense had nudged him awake, whispering at the edge of his consciousness that something was wrong. That something around his prone body wasn't right.

He glanced over to where he knew Halt would be sitting, but found that the old Ranger's spot was empty. That didn't alarm him, though, because Halt frequently got up and walked around the area and checked out noises during his watches. Will did the same. Horace did it as well, but not as frequently as the Rangers, mostly because he wasn't as adept at staying silent as them.

Next, Horace turned his head, to where he knew Will would be laying next to him.

His friend's face was scrunched up in pain and he was moving around on his bedroll more often than he normally would. His cloak was tangled up around his legs, pushed away from his chest as if he couldn't breathe. If Horace didn't know any better, he would have assumed that his friend was sick or having a regular nightmare.

But Horace knew better.

Gently, Horace reached around Will, cupping his jaw in his palm and leaning forward so he could get a better look at Will. Even during these panic attacks, Horace knew, Will's training would kick in and Will would wake up to someone touching him.

"Will," Horace whispered, brushing loose strands of hair away from Will's face. "Wake up, bud," he said softly, watching his face intently.

Will's eyes flicked open, fear and terror turning to confusion as he slowly pulled himself from the nightmare.

He had apparently been holding his breath, because Horace heard a restrained sigh suddenly being released from his friend's body, relaxing into Horace's touch as his mind cleared.

"Horace?" Will breathed, blinking once, then twice.

"I'm here," he murmured. Then, without another word, Horace laid back down in his spot, moving his hand from Will's jaw to his side. With just a little pressure from Horace's hand, Will turned onto his side, facing the knight as his breathing steadied and he brought himself back into the present. When Will seemed to settle once again, Horace reached for the corner of Will's cloak, pulling it back over the Ranger. Then he brought his hand back up to Will's shoulders, and pulled him to his chest in a big hug.

"Horace," Will said, a tight laugh in his muffled voice. "You don't—"

"Shhh," Horace said, "go back to sleep. I've got you."

Will was silent again and Horace thought Will might pull away. It had been some years since they'd done something like this and Halt hadn't been around all those other times. Horace wouldn't blame Will if he did pull away—sometimes, physical contact was the last thing he needed.

But instead, Will sighed and moved the bag he was using as a pillow closer to Horace. He ended up partially resting his head on that and on Horace's arm, which was already hooked around his own pillow. Will's own arm came up and around Horace's side, nuzzling his face into his friend's chest and accepting the comforting hug.

Within a few minutes, Will's breathing was even, his breath tickling Horace's throat as he dozed back to sleep.

Maybe this would look weird when Halt got back, Horace considered, but at that moment, he didn't care. Will wasn't suffering anymore.

Halt slipped back into the clearing, ears open for noises coming from his apprentice. He was prepared for whatever would happen between them, knowing things would get awkward with Horace and that might make Will panic more.

When his two younger companions finally came back into sight, though, Halt stopped, pausing in his tracks. The two of them were still dead asleep, but their positions had moved considerably.

Will was now facing Horace, his face resting up against Horace's chest and his arm lighting resting on his side in a loose hug. Horace, for his part, had one arm all the way over Will and holding him tightly to him, their legs tangled together. Will's cloak was back over his shoulders, someone having moved it from it's position wrapped around his legs.

Now, Halt felt the tensity release from his shoulders, the stress leaving him and finally allowing him to breathe.

Not because he didn't have to deal with whatever would have happened if he woke Will, but because, it seemed, his apprentice had settled down one way or another. He had calmed down from his panic.

Nodding to himself, Halt slipped across the camp and back to the spot he'd been watching from. As he sat down, he decided that he would give the two of them some extra time to sleep. Waking one up would wake the other up, so he would instead split the night in half—Halt would watch the first half, and Will and Horace would watch the second half, together.

It wasn't what they normally did, but that was fine. Halt didn't mind one way or another … as long as Will was okay.