And Halt found himself looking into the now cold, dark eyes of Will Treaty.

Halt tried to speak, but his throat felt really dry. He was too amazed that Will was here, actually here. But why had he tried to kill him? That was what thoroughly confused him. Something felt very wrong.

He almost didn't recognize him, but he could never forget Will's face. There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes and he had several scars on his face that hadn't been there before he was taken.

His unruly brown hair had also gotten longer. But what scared Halt the most were his eyes. The usually warm, caring brown eyes were now dark, and cold. Halt had never seen Will's eyes like that before, and he didn't like it.

"Let me go!" Will snarled.

Now Halt knew something was wrong. Will never used that tone with him, and on the rare occasion that he did, he spent the night in a tree. While Halt had him pinned, he took all of his weapons. He had his longbow and arrows, throwing knives, a saxe knife, strikers, and multiple bottles of assorted poisons. That was odd. Rangers don't carry any poisons. He filed the information away for later.

After several minutes of searching for any concealed weapons, Halt got up but still kept a tight hold on Will's wrist. He noticed he was limping heavily and wondered why. As soon as he was off the ground, Will lashed out with his legs, trying to kick Halt's legs out from under him. But the older Ranger was ready for it. He dodged Will's kick, setting him off balance and twisted his arm behind his back. Will gave a sharp gasp, but stayed still.

Halt walked over to where Will's knife lay in the grass and picked it up. It was Will's saxe knife. He sheathed his saxe and started walking in the direction of their cabin. He hadn't brought Abelard with him because he was close enough to the house to just walk.

The younger man struggled and squirmed in his grip, his eyes darting around seeking an escape route. But after almost a whole year of him being gone, Halt wasn't even going to let him out of his sight, much less was he going to let him run off.

Will had fought against him the entire trip to the cabin. It should have been a short trip, but Will made it seem like hours before they turned around a bend, and they could finally see the cabin. As the cabin came into view, Halt saw a tall figure wearing a mottled green and grey cloak sitting on the veranda. (Yay! Gilan has come! Yea, he was here to visit Halt because he hadn't seen him for a while).

His happiness didn't last long though, Will saw the cabin too and fought even harder to get away from Halt. Gilan saw him practically dragging a person towards the cabin and went to help. He didn't know who it was until he got up close and saw the person's face.

He froze. The person Halt had with him was Will, his best friend that had been missing for almost a year. Millions of questions flashed through his head at an alarming speed and he swayed slightly.

"Gilan, help me get him inside!" Halt said in a commanding tone.

Halt's voice snapped him out of it, and he rushed over to help. He grabbed Will's other arm and they dragged him inside. When they got inside, Halt held Will while Gilan grabbed a chair and some rope. He brought the chair into the living room and they tied his hands and feet to the chair.

"Let me go!" Will yelled angrily.

He couldn't get the knots untied and it frustrated him. Halt sat down on the couch beside Gilan, trying to catch his breath. Will thrashed in the chair trying to get the knots loose, but to no avail. After a few minutes, he got tired and gave up. Halt noticed his leg was bleeding and silently cursed himself. He was the one to break the silence that had settled over the room.

"Gilan, I need you to go get a healer." He said quietly.

Gilan, knowing that it was best not to question Halt's orders, nodded dumbly and ran out the door. He saddled up Blaze and bolted for castle Redmont. Blaze sensed his uneasiness and started getting worried.

Is something wrong, Gilan?

I don't know yet Blaze.

The rest of the ride was quiet and they were there in a short time. Gilan cared for Blaze, then ran to the infirmary, hoping to find Lucas (the head healer). It didn't take long to find him. He was treating a Battleschool apprentice who had probably been injured during training. Gilan walked into the large room and over to Lucas.

"Lucas, I need your help!"

"Okay, give me just a minute." He said politely.

After a short while, Lucas finished treating the Battleschool apprentice, grabbed his supplies, and walked over to Gilan. They ran to the stables and Lucas borrowed a horse while Gilan saddled up Blaze. The trip back was quiet too.

That was one of the things Gilan liked about Lucas. He didn't ask questions. He was especially thankful for that because he probably didn't know the answers. They reached the cabin after a few minutes and they dismounted their horses and went inside.

When Lucas saw Will he stopped. Everyone all over Araluen knew that Will had gone missing and was searching for him. The fact that he was tied to a chair in Halt's living room didn't look good.

"We'll explain later, his left leg is bleeding. I tried to stop the bleeding but all I could do was slow it down." Halt explained briskly.

Lucas nodded and walked over to Will, kneeling down by his leg. He got out a knife and cut his leggings. When Will saw the knife, he flinched. Lucas gasped when he saw his leg. It was covered in deep cuts that were all showing signs of infection. Halt leaned over so he could see around Lucas and his heart dropped into his stomach. Lucas cursed and rummaged through his bag. He pulled out a syringe and a bottle of clear liquid.

"I'm going to give him a strong pain killer, and that should help some, but it won't completely numb the pain."

Will, who had seen the syringe, leaned as far away from Lucas as his bonds would allow. The healer inserted the needle into Will's arm and pushed the plunger down before he could protest and he glared at him. If looks could kill Lucas would be dead and gone. He hissed as Lucas poked and prodded at his injured leg. Will's leg started to feel numb and he relaxed slightly. This was what Lucas was waiting for.

"Alright, the pain killer has kicked in, but we're gonna have to move him before I can start working on him."

Halt nodded and walked over to Will, drawing his saxe as he went. He walked around behind him and as he moved to cut the bonds, he saw Will tense up. He ignored it for now and cut the bonds on his feet. Will stood up and Halt grabbed his arm, steering him towards his room. He didn't fight, as he was too tired and worn out. Plus he had learned by now that if he didn't cooperate, they would probably just overpower him and force him the rest of the way.

"Lay down," Halt commanded.

Will complied, laying down on the soft bed. He almost fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but he refused to give in. He fought to keep his eyes open as he listened to Lucas dig through his bag of supplies.

The sound stopped as Lucas found what he needed- the container of disinfectant. He poured some into a cloth and glanced at Halt, silently asking if he was ready. Halt sat down beside Will, and nodded. Gilan stood in front of the door, cutting off Will's only escape if he tried anything.

Lucas rubbed the cloth over the wounds on Will's leg, wiping up all the dry blood as he went. Will flinched violently and gasped, but made no further movement. His eyes blurred with tears as his leg felt like it was on fire.

He gritted his teeth, determined not to scream. Lucas quickly finished disinfecting the wounds and searched his bag for a needle and thread. He found them after a few moments and started working on threading the needle.

Will leaned forward, trying to see what Lucas was up to. Halt pushed him back down onto the bed, grabbing his chin and turning his head away from what Lucas was doing. Lucas finished threading the needle and began stitching up the largest of his wounds. He couldn't hold back a scream as the needle pierced his skin.

He thrashed as the needle went through his skin again. Halt grabbed his shoulders and pinned him to the bed, trying to keep him still. Lucas was having a hard time with his legs, as he couldn't stitch and hold his legs still at the same time. Halt noticed this and called Gilan over to help.

"Gilan! Come hold his legs!"

Gilan rushed to the bed and kneeled down beside Lucas. He pinned Will's legs to the bed and nodded to Lucas, signaling that he was ready. Lucas continued stitching as quickly as possible. Will struggled harder, making it extremely difficult to keep him still.

"Shhh, Will it's okay." Halt said in a soothing voice.

He was trying to calm him down some so this would be easier. He made several futile attempts, but Will completely ignored him and continued fighting. Eventually, Lucas finished stitching the first one and moved on to the next. Tears slid down his face as he tried to escape the pain.

He was so tired and he just wanted to go to sleep. His eyelids drooped and this time he didn't have the strength to open them again. As he began to drift off his tense muscles relaxed and he stopped thrashing, his breath falling into a deep and steady rhythm.

A/N: SEE! I told you guys it would be really angsty. *evil laugh*