Halt woke up this time to the sound of something smashing against a wall. Instinctively he flipped of the bed he had been staying in and grabbed his always close by weapons. He walked over to the door, knowing which areas of the floorboards creaked and nudged it open with his saxe before peering through it after a pause.

"Stay," he muttered to Pauline was was still on the bed careful not to make a noise. She nodded.

Halt repeated the same step as earlier, avoiding the areas that creeked. Only someone as used to the cabin as he was would have been able to walk as he was. Halt highly doubted Will was able to do the same.

Will's ability of being quiet was soon proven as Halt was forced to duck when something else flew at his head.

"Again?" Halt asked with a raised eyebrow. "It's safe, Pauline. It's only Will," he called back to his worried wife.

"It's your fault! If I had never done my apprenticeship then I she would have married me because I would be normal!" Will cried pointing at Halt. Pauline who was walking down the corridor carefully to avoid broken glass opened her mouth to say something was was beaten to the case by Halt.

"There were plenty of opportunities for you to leave!" Halt yelled back before stomping off.

Will's eyes grew wide. He hadn't meant anything he had said. Everything was getting to him and the alcohol he had been consuming didn't help his case. Realistically, he couldn't be more thankful to Halt for not only saving his life a multitude of times but for giving him a life he enjoyed.

Pauline looked at Will for a moment before walking over to him. "No more alcohol," she said simply. Will nodded back in shock still looking at the door Halt had stormed out of.

On the other side Halt was standing there leaning against it, hoping that Will had just learnt a lesson, not matter how painful it was to give it.

"Little mouse, tell me where your lover is," the man called suddenly. Alyss closed her eyes in pain and let out a bitter laugh.

"I should have known that you would have turned up," she replied, refusing to answer his question.

The man walked out of where he had been hiding, over to her. He forcefully grabbed her hips and pulled her close to him so that her back was to his chest. Alyss kept her eyes forwards but was able to see his cunning thoughts in his eyes out of the corner of her own.

"What did he say to you?" the man said. Alyss paused as she tried to think of something that would make him happy so that he would discontinue his threats on Will. Somewhere she knew that he wouldn't.

She fell to the floor as she was slapped.

"WHAT DID HE SAY?!" the man yelled.

"He offered to leave the corps for me!" Alyss cried back. Normally she wouldn't let anyone get to her, but this man had studied her for a while before approaching her and so knew the exact way to break her.

And she was broken.

"Tell him to do it."

"What?" Alyss asked with her eyes wide open. Would there be any end to this madness? she thought.

"Tell him you will consider going back to him if he quits and never rejoins."

Alyss couldn't stop herself from letting out a small sob at that news. She knew there was no other choice however and nodded. Each and every action she did was breaking Will into pieces and if this issue was ever solved she didn't know if there was going to be anything of him left to fix.

Alyss was walking through the town by herself, hating every moment of her current life. She wouldn't go back and change her actions though, if it kept Will safe then she could cope with the heart ache. She knew that the next time she saw him she would have to act upon the devastating orders from earlier, so she was planning to avoid him. Which realistically shouldn't have been hard considering Will was meant to be staying at his cabin.

Meant to be, being the key phrase here.

When she reached a crossroad she double checked to make sure she wasn't going to get run over by a cart or anything of the like.

Then she saw him.

To be frankly honest he didn't appear to be well. His face was set into a hard grim expression of hate at the world that made Halt who was beside him look nice.

HIs eyes were bloodshot and swollen, presumably from crying. They didn't focus on anything, just gliding over. That was normally one of the things that attracted her to him, the way that his eyes were always watching, it made her feel safe, looked after, cared for. He looked thinner than she had last seen him and he had his cloak wrapped around him as a security from other people. His hood was pulled up, when generally she knew he didn't want to intimidate the general people living around the castle and so it was kept down. Riding into the afternoon sun as Halt and Will were, it didn't conceal their faces. Halt's portrayed of worry and frustration, Will's of just pure heartbreak. Alyss knew that Will had never looked at another woman the way he did her, and she had gone and broken this trust as easily as one might a small stick underfoot.

"Alyss," Halt greeted stonely from his horse. Will attempted to continue on his way, Alyss could see, however Tug wanted to stop to greet her.

"Halt, Will," she responded with the same blank expression, pretending she didn't care when really her heart was breaking. Will said nothing.

Alyss didn't say anything. She was trying to work out a way to tell Will what she was ordered to, after all, it was harder with Halt there. She didn't want to get on his bad side, well more than she obviously was. She was given an easy lead in by Halt however, and in that small moment, she truly hated the older man in front of her.

"Is there anyway you will take Will back?" he asked her, getting desperate.

"Perhaps if he drops out of the Rangers," she replied coldly. There was a pause as nothing moved. The villagers had noticed the tension and were standing off to one side curious. They wondered what needed two Rangers in one area and why.

Halt looked at her then turned to Tug. "Follow," he commanded. The horse did as he asked because he realised that Will was fairly useless at that point in time, being drunk.

Will watched Alyss until he could no longer.

She did the same.

Wow. This chapter was largely Alyss focused, wasn't it? I haven't done that in a long time!

It's so entertaining because I make the faces of the characters in order to describe them. I must be the most entertaining person typing when I write these things on a train. That and I'm eating curry.

I can't wait until the next chapter. It will break everyone's heart.

I got so distracted writing this. eg. I wrote the outline to about 4 oneshots and taught myself how to play the only exception on guitar. Except it sounds as though I'm attempting to strangle someone with it rather than play a song.

Aly