Ryan fell into his bed.
He was exhausted.
He closed his eyes, hoping he could get some sleep.
Darkness wasn't there to greet him.
He was in a dark hallway.
He checked his belt.
His dagger was nowhere to be found.
He heard a voice in the distance.
"De-fect, where are you?"
To a normal person, it would sound like a mother searching for a lost child.
Ryan's fear proved this wrong.
He started running.
The voice came closer.
"Why did you run, Defect? Don't you care about family?"
Ryan kept running.
The voice started laughing as Ryan ran as hard as he could.
A hooded figure then stood before Ryan.
On his cloak, she had the symbol of the Silver Tongues.
It was the comedy and tragedy masks, but both were smiling with their tongues hanging out.
The figure held out her hand; she was getting ready to touch his cheek.
"It is time to go home, Defect."
Ryan turned to run, but the walking figure easily caught up to him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
In a flash, he grabbed the wrist of the attacker and pinned them with his hand around their throat.
With his teeth bared, he squeezed as hard as he could.
The figure's face became visible, and its hair turned red.
He looked around and saw the small base the Dwarves had constructed.
He realised that he had attacked Bell.
He took his hand from Bell's throat and retreated from her.
"I'm sorry... I didn't..."
His voice faltered as he moved back and fell off the bed.
Bell stood up and walked to him.
Her voice was a bit hoarse as she spoke.
"Are you ok, Ryan?"
Ryan kept moving back until he hit the wall.
She kept advancing and sat beside him.
"That dream looked like a bad one."
He tried not to look at Bell, whose neck was red where he had strangled her.
He wanted to speak, but the words wouldn't appear.
"You don't have to talk about it, let me help you to your bed."
She held out a hand as she stood up.
"Are you not angry?"
Ryan felt slightly relieved that he found his voice.
With a shaky hand, he took hers and stood.
"You looked so afraid."
As he lay down, she took her place next to him.
"Grizzly and Eragon told me that you had a tough life, but I didn't realise how bad it was."
She looked at him, but he was staring at the ceiling.
"I hurt you, I do not want to hurt anyone anymore."
"It's ok, Ryan, I forgive you."
These words made him stare at her.
"Why? I could have killed you!"
"You didn't."
He looked back up at the ceiling.
"I don't understand, you saved me, and then you endured Eragon's magic, and then you forgive me when I attacked you."
He rubbed his face.
He realised that there were tears across his face.
While still looking up, he spoke, "For what it's worth, I am sorry."
Bell sat up and looked at Ryan.
"This wasn't the first time that Eragon healed me."
She lifted her left pant leg to reveal a foot that was a slightly different colour.
"About ten years ago, I went camping with my dad and Grizzly."
She gave him a big smile.
"That was my first time meeting Eragon. I was so scared of him, but you know how cool he is."
Ryan nodded unconsciously.
"I was horsing around, like all twelve-year-olds do, and I found a goblin village."
Ryan sat up.
"They hunted me."
She took a deep breath.
"They managed to take my foot before the others got there."
Ryan could see the fear in her eyes while she recounted the memory.
"They saved me, and Eragon barely had enough magic to heal my foot, and he passed out, and we were inseparable ever since."
Ryan looked at her leg and then back up at her.
"I grew up in an orphanage; I have no idea who my father or mother were."
He went quiet, and to his surprise, Bell hugged him and started crying quietly.
He wanted to hug her back, but his arms fell to his sides; he felt he didn't deserve to hold her.
He just let her hang on to him.
It felt nice.
After a few minutes, she got out of bed.
Standing over his bed, she spoke.
"Try to get some sleep, Ryan."
"Thank you, Isabelle, I will."
He turned over, and he thankfully had no more dreams.
Later, they were all woken up by Grizzly.
As the group woke up, Grizzly sat down on the side of Eragon's bed.
"Good morning, Team, I hope you all had a good night's rest."
Bell and Ryan shared a look, and she received a small smile from him.
"We checked the area and there were no more Cursed Dwarves, but the bodies of those other two were gone."
Eragon decided to speak up.
"What do you mean gone?"
He stood at his full height, which dwarfed Grizzly.
"Calm down, Blue Leader, the Dwarves are investigating, and if they find anything, I will let you all know."
The Draconian seemed satisfied and looked back at Bell and Ryan.
"How are you two?"
Ryan answered in his monotone.
"Fine."
Bell answered at almost the same time.
"Good as new, Blue Man."
Grizzly stood up and lit another cigarette.
"In five hours, the Dwarves will have a banquet to thank the heroes who dispatched the Cursed Ones."
He then looked at Ryan.
"It was because of you that we didn't have any casualties, it is ok to be proud of yourself."
Ryan stood up and looked at Grizzly, "Those other two were not Dwarves, maybe the Wizard's Guild could help."
The old man smiled, "Good thinking, but the Dwarves don't love Mages."
Ryan frowned and looked down; he felt familiar shame.
"No need to feel down, you couldn't have known, I am glad you want to contribute."
Grizzly patted the young man on the shoulder and left without another word.