"Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own love." -Bradley Whitford

Ares looked like shit.

It looked like he had been run over by a bus, drug through the mud, run over again, and shot by purple paintballs. I wish that's what had happened, because this disease was worse than all of them combined, twice over.

His tongue was spotted white and hung out the side of his mouth most of the time. I couldn't imagine how dry it probably was, but he needed it out of the way so he could breathe. His usually smooth, sleek black fur was patchy and missing chunks, in their place were large purple bulges the size of melons. They would periodically burst, displacing blood and pus over his remaining fur, matting it together. The first time one blew while I was there, I turned in my chair and let loose my dinner; it was one of the few times I actually ate that week, too.

I sighed and reluctantly stood as the bat drifted back to sleep. Serenity hadn't come in yet to tell me we needed to go, so I snuck into the next room. The second room had a much larger glassed off area, as two had to live inside it, though Ares's also had to be bigger than normal because of his large wingspan.

When I walked in, Howard and Andromeda were playing chess on the floor between their beds. Howard saw me after a second and grinned, tapping the flier to turn her attention. The happiness on their faces worked at my low moral and I waved at them, sitting on the floor on my side of the glass. I grabbed the notepad, it was the way we communicated because no sound penetrated the glass, scribbling a message about my dad and sister coming down today so we could start the quest for the cure.

Howard and Andromeda weren't in nearly as bad shape as Ares, Howard just had one purple lump on his neck the size of a quarter, and the gold and black flier looked as healthy as ever. She was diagnosed first when Doctor Neveeve tested everyone's blood, starting with the quest members. I was surprised I hadn't been positive.

Neveeve's theory was it started with Andromeda, who contracted it from the mites that attacked her and Pandora, then Ares acquired it through some of his sucker wounds when they huddled up together, and Howard got it when he rode on Andromeda with Mareth.

I was still mystified that I didn't been afflicted with my open sores at the time, and Mareth had a gaping wound on his leg, yet he remained clean as well. Honestly, I wasn't sure how Howard got it, either, but I also don't know what happened during their flight.

I wrote on the pad that I was going to see the guard before my family arrived and bid them goodbye. The soldier's room was just down the hall. I peeked my head out to see Serenity's back facing me as she spoke to a random servant. I didn't recognize the girl and thankfully she didn't see me slip into the adjacent room.

"Gregor!" He called loudly when he saw me, sitting up in his bed. When I got back, I was relieved to see he made the trip over the Waterway, but it wasn't without a bit of sacrifice on his part. He grabbed a handle next too the bed and swung himself off the side.

He grabbed the crutch and used it to meet me, weighing heavily on his right side to make up for the missing left. They had to amputate it a few inches down his thigh because the infection had spread so far by the time Howard and Andromeda had made it back. It hadn't done much to damper his spirits though, he joked about trying to grow a new leg like Temp.

The roach had scurried into the arena around the time Ares had been isolated two weeks ago. He spent some time in the Dead Land regrowing the legs he lost during the squid attack and getting healthy. He was a little sad to have missed saying goodbye to Boots, but was glad she made it back on the moth and to the Overland safely.

"Good to see you out and about." The soldier joked, obviously locking myself in the map room had become pretty common knowledge. Unlike with Ripred, I couldn't be angry at him about the jab, accepting his free forearm in greeting and laughing.

"It's been hard, I won't lie." I sighed, running my hand over my hair. Serenity trimmed it every so often to keep the area around my neck and ears nearly completely hairless, maintaining the top so it didn't get obnoxiously long. "How about you? When will they let you leave?"

"The doctors have recently allowed me to visit Howard and Andromeda." He smiled but thought of his sick bond quickly sobered his expression. He sighed, leaned against his cane and ran a hand over his face.

"She will be okay, man." I clapped him on the shoulder like he would often do to me. "We'll have the meeting about the quest as soon as Boots gets here, which should be any minute. There's a cure out there, and we'll find it."

"This is what I believe." He nodded, pulling together with the hope. "It does not make sense to me, how some of us escaped this monster."

I nodded, thinking about Aurora and Luxa, hoping they had managed to get away from the disease too. Aurora huddled with Ares after Andromeda was attacked. Luxa probably spent as little time off of her bond after we lost them, so if Aurora had contracted it, she was bound to as well.

"Gregor." Serenity walked in, giving Mareth a quick hug. "Nike was spotted at the grain fields, she shall be arriving in High Hall any moment with your family."

"Okay. Hang in there Mareth, we'll be back in no time." I took the guard's forearm again and followed the baker's daughter out of the hospital wing.

We arrived in High Hall as a vibrant white and black striped flier coasted in from the open ceiling. "That's Nike?" I leaned over to whispered to Serenity. She just shook her head and laughed at me. I hadn't actually met this flier, but she must be highly thought of if she was charged with getting my dad and Boots.

Boots squealed as they landed. "Greggy!"

She slipped out of my dad's arms and slid down Nike's wing like a slide, running into my arms. I laughed as she nearly knocked me over. "Hey, little girl! I missed you!"

"Miss you, too, Greggy! Hi, hi 'Renity!" Serenity grinned at my sister as she strained to get out of my arms and into hers. I relented and handed her off to my girlfriend and met my dad, who was turned, talking to Nike.

"Hey, dad, thanks for making it back." I gave him a hug but it was hard with how large he was. I thought I was tall, but I guess I got it from him because he was at least five inches taller than me, not to mention extra muscles from working in the gnawers' forge while he was being held captive.

He pulled away with a not so elated expression. "Gregor-"

"Gregor?" A female voice called out from behind him. My stomach sank and I looked up at him as my heart rate picked up. My dad looked sorry but stepped away, exposing the woman. "Is that my boy?"

"Uh, hey...mom."

Well hello again. Hope you all enjoyed this :) I don't have much to say, but Toast Ninja, don't ever change. I think you know what I'm talking about ;)

Please drop a review if you saw something you liked or something you hated, I appreciate all.

Yours,

Artemis.