I'm back! A few of the stories have changed a little because of everything I've been watching over the last year. Hope I'm not rusty.

Wiki-ing… OMFG, they named the Evans mom Darby? Walt Disney is probably rolling in his grave right now…

Let's start. :) I am sorry to say that the preview from the last chapter (Proclamation and stuff) will not be met in this chapter because then it would be the longest chapter I've ever written. I tried to fit in so much in between what was promised but I hadn't even finished and it was 10,000+ words!! It'll be in the next chapter, promise!! I'm so sorry, but this is a sacrifice I made for you guys!! You wanted an update badly, so here!! =D

The mood is kinda sombre… I'm sorry that you're all waiting for the update and getting this kind of atmosphere…

Ryan and Troy went back to school. Sharpay didn't.

At first, it seemed normal that she was absent for the first week or so, but after the second week and still no word about where she was and how she was doing, a few people started noticing.

Autumn was almost over. The smaller trees were now bare, and the taller trees only had a few leaves left, each one like shimmering topaz gems hanging from their dead branches. The wind grew harsher and colder, and Troy no longer felt the sensation of awe as he did just a few weeks ago. The cold was now prickly and depressing, and it gave him no comfort whenever it passed. It was never sunny anymore; the clouds had overtaken the heavens and huddled together in a mixture of white and grey, not allowing any ray of light to seep through. It was almost like they knew what was going on in Albuquerque. Almost like they knew what was going on with Sharpay.

On the Friday of the second week of November, a crowd of juniors stampeded out of the school as the older students, weary from the day, followed slowly behind. Troy and Ryan made their way out among the seniors, equally tired. Troy, especially, felt very tired.

The wind whisked through his sandy brown hair, stinging his skin with its icy chill and numbing all his senses, irritating him. He hastily flattened the front of his hair, which had grown longer now and was annoying when it went into his eyes. The bag on his shoulder felt so heavy and big, like it wanted to drag him down into the earth where he could just close his eyes and die, but Troy struggled to stay strong, not to lose despite what little strength was left inside him.

He pushed his hair as far back as he could, sighing wearily, the cold air hurting as it travelled in and out of his lungs. He was so tired, and the only thing he wanted more than anything at that moment was for all of it to stop.

He just wanted the whole world to stop for one moment so he could remember what it felt like for his soul to be at peace.

Still scarred from the events of that fateful day, the wounds still fresh and raw, it was an eternal struggle in Troy's mind to keep himself from losing his grip.

His mind wouldn't let him forget, or try to forget any of the painful details. The moment he found Sharpay outside the house, blind… the moment she told him the entire truth… the moment she found out it had actually been him who she told everything to…

"IT WAS YOU THE WHOLE TIME, WASN'T IT?!"

The echo of her screams filled the hollow cavity of Troy's body and soul, his heart pounding against the wall of his chest.

It just kept reverting back to that memory, just that one horrible memory and leaving no room for anything else. Troy's mind spun, and everything around him fell silent, the only sound he could hear was Sharpay's crying. It torn into his heart like a knife, and the outburst of pain erupted into his entire body. A bitter taste burst into his teeth as his stomach turned, sickened at how helpless he was. He sighed again, closing his eyes for a moment as he stopped walking. He stared up.

Clouds, they had overtaken the sky and blocked out the warm rays of sunlight. Shades of white and grey illuminated by the almost invisible streaks of light that managed to reach through.

Troy glanced at Ryan beside him, but as expected, the cool aura surrounding the blonde youth did not warm up and Ryan just kept walking, acting like he didn't even notice his friend's stare.

Unexpectedly, they hadn't said a word to each other since that day. As Troy set foot out of the beach house after that night, Ryan has closed the door immediately, but Troy couldn't help but feel it was nothing harsh. Perhaps Ryan didn't need another attachment to distract him from focusing on Sharpay. Though the two men had become friends, there was still some barriers that Ryan built between them, as if he needed to in order to protect both of them. But because of Sharpay, there was no choice but for Troy to be involved, and for Ryan to involve him, no matter how much he wanted to spare his friend the grief.

Ryan cared too much, and Troy knew in the end he would be the one to be hurt the most.

"Are you taking Sharpay in for her checkup today?" Troy asked at last, keeping his voice as quiet as he could as a bunch of junior girls passed them by. Ryan cleared his throat loudly and buried his hands into his pockets.

"No," he muttered. His eyes remained on the road ahead and away from Troy's. A chilly gust swept through, causing Ryan much physical pain, but Troy wasn't affected, too eager for an answer to notice. He waited another moment or two to see if Ryan would say anything else. But he didn't, and this only caused Troy to feel more anxious.

"Why not?" he finally let out when the answer never came. He struggled to keep his voice free of aggression or anger. Sharpay not going for her checkup was not something Ryan would let happen."Why not?"

Ryan closed his eyes and rubbed his chest with one hand. He finally glanced over at Troy.

"I took her yesterday already," he said simply.

"What did the doctor say?" Troy asked curiously.

Ryan looked away again. He adjusted his jacket a few times and took down his bag, pulling out his phone and pressing a few buttons. Troy watched without a word, but it was clear that Ryan wasn't going to say what had happened at the checkup with Sharpay. Troy knew it must be bad, something Ryan was keeping to himself, something he wouldn't, or couldn't share, but Troy totally understood that. Even though he desperately wanted to know, he remained silent, because it was obvious that Ryan's emotional scars were beginning to show.

Undoubtedly in the past few days, Ryan was really feeling the stress. He was always weary, and seemed much older than an 18 year old. His blond hair had gone darker for some reason, losing that sun-kissed look he and Sharpay so famously shared. He was sallow and pallid, and it was definitely from staying up those nights beside Sharpay, helping her finish her dinner or helping her downstairs. His health had declined as well from all the pressure, weakened by a fever he was silently recovering from. His eyes, however, were bright and alert, despite those clouds of despair. They had to see for Sharpay as well now.

In front of the school ahead was the big yellow school bus that sat at the side of the road, waiting patiently for its passengers to board. It parked right under the last streak of sunlight, and the glistening of its windows hurt Troy's eyes. Usually, he would leap ahead to grab a seat while Ryan went to his own car, each of them exiting back to their own worlds until they met again the next day.

But today was different. Troy didn't seem to feel like taking the bus; he was too tired and didn't feel that he could take the crowdedness. He heaved a sigh and rubbed his flickering eye, fatigue gnawing at the back of his mind, taking away what amount of strength he had been saving up all day. Ryan glanced at him, a sympathetic gaze in his eyes. He knew Troy didn't really want to go home. As Troy took a moment before grudgingly walking to the direction of the bus, Ryan placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on," Ryan said softly, hurling his bag over his shoulder. He smiled at Troy and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I'll give you a lift." He looked at his watch, then back at Troy, still with smiling eyes. "I have to be somewhere soon, but I'll drop you off. She should be sleeping right now, but she'll be glad to see you."

Troy blinked once, again his eyes feeling tired, a little astounded at the amount of energy Ryan had spared to give him such a kind-hearted gesture. Troy smiled gratefully and nodded. Ryan grinned good-naturedly and gave him a friendly pat on the back, both of them changing pace and heading towards the grass area near the parking lot. Troy exhaled breathily and brushed a hand through his brown hair, once again looking up at the sky.

He wanted to go see Sharpay. She was supposed to be resting, so she would probably feel better when she woke up. Yesterday and the day before he didn't get to see her at all, she was sleeping the whole day. He was only allowed to peer into her room, and just watch her sleep for a little while.

Like an angel, except her lips were as pale as her skin, all the summer glow drained from her face. But as soon as she opened her eyes, all the happiness in the world came back, and that was what kept both Troy and Ryan going.

Nowaday, she spent a lot more time at the beach house than at home. She said it allowed her to feel, because she was able to smell the salt air and hear the crashing waves. Without her sight, feelings like those meant everything to her. Neither Mr Evans nor Ryan had the heart to take it away.

Troy was brought out of his thoughts when a warm hand placed itself on his arm. The sound of soft panting and the slight trembling of the hand made Troy know who it was. He looked around to see Gabriella, as well as Taylor behind her. Gabriella, still with her hands on his arm, managed a timid smile despite a weariness that surrounded her eyes.

"We can see Sharpay today, right?" she asked. She glanced at Ryan, who had stopped a few feet ahead and looked back around as well. "Can we visit her please?"

They hadn't seen Sharpay since the last time she came to school, over a fortnight ago, and as time passed, it began to become clearer that something was indeed going on. They were in the dark as everyone else was, whatever questions about Sharpay they wanted to ask were dismissed up to now. The absence of Sharpay's presence was very obvious, and without any news, rumors started to spread, making their circle of friends, who knew the story, very anxious.

"When's she coming back anyway?" Taylor said, her voice much more aggressive and demanding than Gabriella. "C'mon, tell us!" She looked over at Ryan, who was still standing at a distance. She went over, grabbed his arm and shook him, but his impassive expression didn't change. "You guys haven't told us anything!! We have the right to know too, you know!"

Taylor had obviously softened to Sharpay these past few weeks, whether it was because of the absence or Sharpay's fall from grace as Ice Queen where Taylor no longer had anything to hold against her, Troy didn't know, but it appeared that she had became just as concerned for Sharpay as Gabriella was. Ryan and Troy exchanged a look.

Taylor was right. No one else, not even Sharpay, knew the full extent of her condition. They had tried to keep quiet about it from their friends, to avoid causing commotion or more worry. So far, no one else knew she had lost her sight, and they had hoped it stayed that way until she and the family were in Seattle. But as the weeks went by, those words were harder to keep as Sharpay continued to become weaker. Troy felt like he was betraying everyone for lying about Sharpay still being okay when they really had no idea.

Troy's eyes lowered down onto the gravel footpath and he heard Ryan beside him heave a heavy sigh. Slowly, Troy lifted up his gaze to Gabriella. He shook his head.

"Sharpay, she… " he muttered. The words swelled up in his throat for a moment, making him unable to go on. Gabriella gave his hand a squeeze.

"Please tell us," she muttered. Her eyes wide and her breath foggy from the cold air, it caused Troy great pain knowing how much agony would be inflicted on them by knowing. His eyes darted towards Ryan beside him, watching closely. He too felt the guilt of their silence, and Troy knew if Ryan wanted it to remain a secret he would have say something in protest instead of just observing. Troy exhaled and closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily.

"Sharpay isn't coming back," he said after a while. It took a moment for the words to sink in, but as soon as it did, it sent a shock wave. Gabriella blinked, catching her gasp in her throat as she paused for another moment for him to go on. But he didn't. She took him firmly by the shoulders and tried to get him to look at her.

"Troy," she said, her voice quivering a little. "What does that mean?" She looked over at Ryan, who refused to give her eye contact. "What's happened to her?"

"Is she getting worse?" Taylor asked in a whisper, her hands still unconsciously gripped onto Ryan's arm. "Tell us!!" She looked back at Ryan, shaking him again, shaking him so hard that his scarf became undone. Ryan stumbled for a moment, closing his eyes and recollecting the pieces of the harsh reality in his head before he opened them again to face Gabriella and Taylor.

"Sharpay is blind," he told them. A bitter taste erupted in his mouth as he spoke those words, shooting pain inside his body. Ryan felt Taylor's grip slip as another shockwave hit them. A mixed emotion of anger and sadness flashed into Ryan's dark amber pools.

"She's not coming back."

At once, a dizziness hit Ryan, making his heart almost skip a beat. He took a moment to catch his breath, sweatdrops abruptly forming on his smooth pale forehead.

The truth weakened Ryan severely, to the point of causing him physical pain. Troy gathered as much courage as he could to continue for him.

"Sharpay and Ryan are going to Seattle in a few weeks," he said. Taylor blinked, the first to snap out of it at his words.

"Seattle?" she repeated. Gabriella quickly came to her senses as well.

"But… but tha-that's so far away," she stammered. Troy dropped his gaze once more to the ground, as there were no need to for anymore words. It was obvious there would only be one reason for a person in such a frail state as Sharpay to travel to a place as far away from home as Seattle.

A huge gust of wind nearly knocked the friends off their feet, but it did nothing to lift the horror of this revelation. Gabriella's long wavy chocolate hair seared through the air, forcing the bitterness of the wind to hit her full on the face. She covered her eyes with both hands, but Troy wasn't sure whether it was the wind or whether she was ready to cry. Whichever it was, he wrapped a warm arm around her.

Near the end of the Autumn month, it grew colder and the people grew wearier. Troy felt himself grow older, wiser… sadder. So many things had happened and so many things had been sacrificed, which might ultimately be in vain. Still, with that one strand of hope that it would make it easier for Sharpay, he was willing to endure it, even if it would be forever. He felt Gabriella quiver in his embrace, but her movement seemed more out of fear than cold.

"How could this happen, Ryan?" Taylor exclaimed in disbelief. "She was healthy just a few months ago. How can Metallia do this much damage in so little time? That she has to go to Seattle to get help?"

No one once again answered her question, the echoing silence only making them question it themselves.

How had it come this far?

At the end of the road, almost out of nowher, another bus pulled over by the stop just a few yards from the school. Not yellow like the school bus, because it wasn't a school bus. This was unusal, since it wasn't often that anyone would be coming to the school after hours.

It wasn't one of those luxurious, expensive-looking buses either. It was old, rustic, the engine rumbled loudly and violently as the passengers, mostly elderlys or middle-aged citizens with the exception of a few youths, would sit and patiently chat with one another. However, none of them looked like they had any purpose at a local high school. One passenger did come down though, her untamed golden hair sailing through the painful Autumn wind.

The frail figure of Sharpay stepped down cautiously from the bus, a bus driver and a young woman both helping her down. Each holding an arm as she struggled blindly to find the next step, the further she went, the more dangerous and unsteady it became for her. At last, she managed to find the ground, still holding tightly onto each helper until she was ready to move by herself. She let go and carefully turned around to face them. She wasn't sure whether or not she was directly facing them so she once again grabbed the closest person to her. Immediately, the person's other warm hand held onto hers, much to Sharpay's relief.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly, smiling.

"Will you be alright?" she heard a low-pitched man's voice say. Sharpay chuckled enthusiastically and nodded in the direction of his voice.

"Yes, my brother should be here," she told him. She felt the hands give her a gentle push back, over a step behind her Sharpay had not noticed. Only then did the hands let go.

"Be careful," a woman said with a strong New York accent. "Whatever you need, the people around here will help you, alright?" Sharpay smiled and nodded again. A stick was thrust into her right hand. "Take care of yourself."

"I will," Sharpay said confidently. She stood still for a moment as she felt the wind in front of her move, the people getting back on the bus and the bus itself driving away. A slight rush of sadness hit against Sharpay's body at the departure of the people who had helped her so much, but she gathered her strength and turned slowly around to face the school.

Caressing the ground with her stick, she felt the scrapping of the hard, rugged concrete footpath, onto the soft, lumpy turf of grass that was the front of the school, and very carefully as she had been taught, she took one step at a time back to the school she had not seen in so long.

But now she couldn't see it at all. Everything was just darkness to her. This was almost ironic; almost all her life she had been scared of the dark, and now she had to live with it for the rest of her life. This knowlegde, athough unpleasant, forced Sharpay to rid herself of the childhood fear, and now she was used to it. She made herself feel better by thinking positively. She… didn't have to spend hours everyday getting dressed, even though she loved her clothes, now she realized how much time was wasted in the process. She… didn't have to watch Ryan practice his ridiculous presentation speeches and always have to decide whether or not his tie would look better on a blue suit or a black one.

Never again, Sharpay laughed to herself sadly. It was such a hassle anyway.

Instead now, she listened. She could play the piano by herself now, after hours alone of practice, she memorized three Mozart pieces, seven Beethoven pieces and five Chopin pieces, two of them being her mother's favourites. Music and sound were like treasures to her now, it was strange Sharpay didn't notice this until now. A breeze passed through the trees, scattering a few loose leaves from above onto Sharpay. This caught her by surprise, and as the leaves crumbled while she brushed them out of her hair, the rustling sound made her smile.

The distant voices of students, the sound of the wind, traffic, bird's song, she could hear it all. Step after step, her stick held low, Sharpay felt the familiarly jagged ground that came close to where the basketball jocks usually played during recess breaks. Surprisingly the grass around her seemed to grow longer with each step, causing Shapray to hold up her long skirt with her unused hand, the sprouts prickling her stockings. Maybe someone should mow this lawn once in a while.

She shivered a little; it was so cold. She had no idea what the weather would be like, so she went outside without thinking twice. She couldn't glance to see if the sky was grey and cloudy, so regretfully she only had a thin sweater on. It was so much harder now, but there was no other choice than to accept it as it was.

Maybe life had been too luxurious for her.

"Oh, Sharpay!" a voice called out from nowhere. Sharpay stopped in her tracks, confused. It was a voice she knew, but she couldn't tell who it was, nor was she sure which way it was coming from.

"Sharpay!" This time it was another voice. She knew this one as well. They were both men, but neither were Troy or Ryan. She felt fast footsteps coming closer from a distance, and by reflex she turned around, hid the stick behind her back and plastered on a smile. The footsteps stopped and she felt something heavy jump in front of her.

"Hi," she said to the strangers.

"How are you?" he said concernedly. With a new sentence, Sharpay instant recognized it to be Zeke. "You haven't been at school lately."

"I've been fine," she lied. In spite of how foolish she was being, something inside her forced her to act as if nothing was wrong. She didn't want them to know she was blind.

Not knowing what to do, she continued to stare blankly ahead at Zeke, who raised his eyebrows at her strange expression. He glanced at Chad next to him, who hadn't spoken and wasn't recognized yet.

"Are you alright?" Chad said finally. He moved closer with narrowed eyes, examining her face. Sharpay's gaze didn't follow him, but she lowered her face.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted, waving her hands defensively, feeling Chad's breath against her cheek. She pushed him away, but with that it caused her to lose her balance, caught only by Zeke who had quickly grabbed her arm. Immediately, Sharpay pushed him off and as far away from seeing her eyes as much as possible, turning her head from side to side constantly as she felt Zeke try to move closer.

"What's wrong?" he asked, the worry in his voice surfacing more and more. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Nothing," Sharpay said quickly, attempting to hide behind her hair. She couldn't control where her gaze fell anymore, she knew once Zeke or Chad saw that, it was over. Unconsciously, the stick fell out of her hand and landed with a thump on the ground in front of her. Zeke was the first to see it, bending down and picking it up. Sharpay was completely unaware of this and tried her best to act as normal as she could, hiding her shameful disability.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her firmly by the jaw and made her turn her head. Sharpay had no choice but to throw her blind gaze at whatever was in front of her.

Her clear auburn eyes, empty of any expression, stared at something, she didn't even know what. But she felt something, a bad feeling. She had nowhere else to hide now.

"Your eyes," she heard Chad exclaim softly. The hand let go. "You're not blinking."

Sharpay automatically blinked twice at his words, unnaturally. A sharp pain struck through her body, humiliation flooding her as she realized how stupid she must look. Chad waved his hand in front of her face, but with no reaction, a sickening feeling plunged into his stomach and he automatically covered his mouth.

"Oh my God…" he muttered. Zeke froze too, a look of horror in his dark brown eyes as he glanced up from the stick, everything falling into place as to what happened. Sensing this, Sharpay quickly tried to calm them down.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm completely fine."

"How can you be completely fine?!" Zeke exclaimed. He took one of Sharpay's freezing cold hands, which she gripped onto for support. She smiled and squeezed his hand, hiding her humiliation that glistened in her auburn pools.

"Seriously, I'm fine," she said again, but this time her voice quivered. It felt as if she was an old woman, entirely dependent on someone else's help. Still unsteady, feeling dizzy for no apparent reason, Chad placed his hand behind Sharpay's back to stop her from stumbling while Zeke pushed the stick gently into her hand, still grasping her other hand tightly. Sharpay could only comply like a helpless child, but at the same time she was both thankful and ashamed.

"Paypay!!" Another shout of her name caused Sharpay to jump. Rapid footsteps rushed from afar, as they drew closer Sharpay was able to distinguish more than one person. But she already recognized the voice.

Ryan, with Troy and the others close behind him, ran to the scene, his face alert and the eyes which he shared with Sharpay flashing with worry and horror. Immediately without thinking, he pulled his twin sister into his arms like a rag doll.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan breathed. Despite his aggression and strength used to rush as fast as he could to her, Ryan's voice and facial expression softened in an instant, the cold aura melting for Sharpay. Just Sharpay. Troy silently watched behind him with a pallid expression, unable to talk as his heart pounded at his throat. Sharpay's face curved into a smile in her brother's warm embrace and his heavy breath at her chin. She raised a fragile, trembling hand and cupped his cheek, to feel his face and to make sure it was really him. She had been fooled once.

Ryan let out a shaken gasp at the cold touch and quickly took her bare hand in his gloved one, rubbing and blowing into it to warm it as much as he could. Sharpay giggled, making Ryan finally show a smile in so long.

Gabriella and Taylor took a step back and watched without a word with Chad and Zeke, but Troy stepped forward towards the Evans twins. He knew it should be a sibling moment, but seeing her here, all by herself, it was just too hard to let go of the shock. Sharpay was trembling from head to toe, and Ryan was doing his best to comfort her, but it was obviously not enough. Troy wanted to help. A screaming voice in his head told him if he didn't embrace her at a time like this, he would only regret it. His place in Sharpay's weakening heart needed to keep beating.

Ryan brushed some hair out of Sharpay's face, a sudden flash in his eyes again. These days, that was the only sign of emotion he ever showed when he was with Sharpay.

"Troy's here," he said softly. "He's standing right here, Paypay." Sharpay's face lightened up and she turned her head to her left, when in fact Troy was at her right.

"Troy?" she said hopefully. This broke Troy's heart watching her, the same sick pain that plagued his body the moment when she lost her sight. He endured this agonizing moment every time he appeared by her side.

Fairy tales were just stupid. He had always thought they were stupid, how the heroine could feel the presence of her lover, not needing to even hear or see him. Troy used to be stupid, he had believed those stories. He had believed that to be what soulmates were, he believed that he didn't need to see his love to know she was there.

But that was when he still loved Gabriella. Now that he loved Sharpay, he knew what true love was, and it was something that couldn't be written down.

Troy smiled weakly and placed his hand on her right shoulder.

"I'm here, Paypay," he said. At once, Sharpay looked over in his direction, still beaming.

It had been a while since she had heard his voice. Because of Metallia increasingly becoming more and more aggressive, Sharpay was forced to take stronger drugs, and that caused her to lose more energy and become more tired. She had slept through his past three visits, where Troy had merely sat beside her bed, watching her sleeping. She knew that just seeing her face and hearing her breathe was enough to make Troy stay by her side for hours, but it made her sad that she couldn't spend time with him. That was what she wanted more than anything in the world.

Sharpay chuckled feebly at Troy's touch, letting out small puffs into the cold air. She opened up her arms and wrapped them around him, sinking into his warm body as his strong arms came around her, making her feel warm and safe. Troy hugged her back, both as tightly and as gently as he could, not wanting to cause her pain, but at the same time not wanting to ever let her go. Ryan watched concernedly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked again, a little more demandingly. "How did you get here all by yourself?" Sharpay grinned, again turning her head while her gaye lingered.

"I took the bus," she told him. "The people at the bus stop were really nice." She turned her head between Ryan and Troy, who silently shared a look of worry. "They helped me."

For the first few days of Sharpay's condition, Ryan and Mr Evans enforced a strict rule that Sharpay would stay at home when not at the hospital, away from any danger. So she was completely by herself for the entire day while Ryan was at school, and when he did come home, with or without Troy, Sharpay would be given treatment which caused her to sleep. This way, she wasn't able to spend any time with them, and this made Sharpay feel frustrated.

The only reason she had agreed to keep going with the schedule today was because Mr Evans was in town so she could take her medication earlier, therefore she would be lucid by the time Ryan came home. He had promised to take her to the beach house and allowed her to spend time with Troy before she needed to go to hospital again that evening. It had been a long time since she was well enough to go to the beach house, it was the first time in almost a week she had been able to see it, so it made her even more eager that she was going there with Troy.

However, she still had to wait until Ryan and Troy came home from school and pick her up, and she knew that would take too much longer than needed. She felt as if the precious time she had to spend with her loved ones was being wasted by just waiting, so she decided to go out herself. Ryan knew this and he didn't have the heart to scold her courage. He just smiled.

"I'm just glad you didn't get hurt," he said. Sharpay chuckled softly again. Somehow, whenever he spoke to her, she felt such a safe and reassuring tone in his voice that made her feel relieved.

She was so thankful Ryan was still there.

Sharpay reached out to Ryan, leaning over to him. She rested her hand on his chest and weakly pulled at his shirt affectionately. Ryan felt the drainage of strength the toll of the trip had taken on her, even with her brave face, she was much weaker and frail now. He looked at Troy beside him, then at the rest of his friends, all of them watching with their lips pursed and their eyes wide, still recovering from the shock. None of them had spoken a word, not even daring to let Sharpay know of their presence, absorbing what they could from the situation. Ryan took off one of his jackets and wrapped it around the still-shivering Sharpay, with Troy helping him adjust it while she stood in a daze. With pure instinct, she grabbed Ryan's hand.

His fingertips, his soft palms, his delicate fingers in contrast to Troy's stiffness, she learned slowly but definitely how to distinguish between the two young men in her life.

"Ry," Sharpay said after a while, her freezing fingers squeezing his hand lightly. Her face stayed emotionless like a porcelian doll, her head jerking even at the slightest touch. "Ry, I want to go to the beach house with Troy today." Ryan nodded subconsciously as he strapped up the last opening on the jacket. He undid the scarf around his neck, still warm, and wrapped it around Sharpay's neck. The cold air stung at his exposed skin, but he said nothing, focused completely on his siter.

"Alright," he said gently, brushing her hair again. He took her hand, taking the stick out and giving it instead to Troy. Now that her hand was empty, Ryan took Troy's hand and locked it on with Sharpay's. He smiled proudly between the two, then rested his gaze firmly onto Sharpay.

"Wait in the car with him, okay?" he said. "I'll take you guys there." Sharpay beamed again, nodding in a childlike manner as she felt Troy pull her closer.

"Okay," she replied. Ryan smiled, but the smile disappeared with he looked up at Troy beside her . Again, they communicated with their eyes, an ominous exchange this time that only the other would understand, and Troy obediently led Sharpay towards the car. He warmly tucked her under his arm as a gust of wind gushed through the area. He heard Sharpay inhaled sharply and cringe in towards his body, her fists clenched.

"Are you cold?" he asked. Sharpay smiled, hiding away from the cold as much as possible, pulling Troy's protective arm closer into her.

"I'm fine," she said yet again. It was more like an automatic responce than a real reply, Troy knew. He realized how much she was shivering, sending a surge of that pain through his body again. But like always, he hid his concern and focused primarily on making her comfortable. He tenderly kissed her hair, her entire body resting on him, no strength left to hold herself up without him. He kissed her hair again.

Ryan stood behind for a moment with the rest of the friends to watch Troy and Sharpay walk away together into the distance. Slow and steady, time seemed to stand still and nothing else moved or breathed, only the footsteps that were fading subtly away could be heard. When he were sure that Troy and Sharpay were out of earshot, Zeke immediately jumped out as the first to ask the question everyone wanted to know.

"What's going to happen to her?" he asked fearfully. Ryan didn't look at him, nor did he act like he even heard the question. He just kept watching Troy and Sharpay.

"Is she going to be alright?" Chad asked.

Hearing this question, a shiver ran down Ryan's spine and his body stiffened.

"She's going to make it, isn't she?" came Gabriella's voice, much higher than usual. "She's going to get better soon…"

Ryan let out a deep, heavy sigh, and lowered his gaze down guiltily. He looked over his shoulder at them, seeing how much they really cared about Sharpay, despite not knowing what was going on.

He wanted to tell them the truth, just like he wanted to tell Troy, but he knew the same reason would stop him from doing so.

Ryan had become selfish, it was the first time he admitted that to himself. Self-centred that he wouldn't let anyone know the whole story, to know all that he knew. After the checkup yesterday, he didn't even allow Sharpay to hear about her results. He was selfish because he wanted to be the only one to know and be the only one to be in control. Even as much as he knew Troy loved her, even as much as he knew her friends cared for her, he wanted to selfishly be the only person who knew the truth.

So he would feel the pain alone. He was selfish for keeping them all ignorant. But maybe at the same time he was saving them.

The only way to save the people you have come to love was to turn them away. Now was the worst possible time to have any attachements. The heart was a powerful thing, and love could sometimes be a curse. He could only save the people he loved by being selfish.

Ryan's eyes saddened greatly as he thought about how his own heart had played him, not allowing him to follow his rules, and making him have second thoughts, a feeling in his soul that urged him to defy his duties. In the midst of all the commotion, he hadn't had time to even think for himself, but he firmly forced his own worries to the back of his mind.

Ryan forced a painful smile as he started to probe his pocket for the carkeys, a nonchalant shake of his head dismissing the questions with a weariness before he turned away from his friends entirely to head to the car.

"Let's just pray," he said very softly.

Sorry for any rustiness!