This Chapter is definitely shorter then what's to come but I just felt the tonal shift from this to the next portion just didn't mesh well together. I hope it's still enjoyable while I work on the next part.

"Here you go Leni." Luna spoke as she backed into the room of her older sister, pushing the door open as she held a tray with a bowl of hot soup on it with some saltine crackers on the side. "Hot vegetable soup and crackers for you, sis."

"Th-thanks, Luna." Leni said weakly as her sister turned to her. The blonde's face extremely pale as she did her best to sit up in her bed as Luna quickly came over and rested the tray on the nearby night stand to help her sister. It had now been several months since Lynn and Lincoln had run away and winter was now setting in with little indication that they would anytime soon. In the meantime, Leni's condition had gotten progressively worse, the cough soon joined by lack of energy and weakened muscles. It had gotten to the point that she was bedridden most days and had to be tended to.

This time it was Luna who stepped up as the rest of the family had left early for Sunday service and despite Leni's protests that she would be fine alone, the third eldest sister refused to do any such thing. Luna gently spread out a large cloth napkin over her sister's lap and then placed the tray on top of it. "Here you go sis. The doctor said you need to keep your strength up." Luna lifted a spoon full of the soup to her sister as Leni opened her mouth and chewed up the vegetable chunks before swallowing it down. Even this small task proved rather difficult for her to do as she had to fight to keep her body upright as it seemed to want her to lay back down.

Despite her best efforts to swallow down the food, Leni found herself in the middle of a coughing fit as the food spilled from her mouth onto her sheets. Luna was quick to aid her sister, leaning her back against the head board to ease some of her discomfort. Once the episode had subsided, the younger sister took a large white cloth and helped to clean up the spill, cleaning Leni's face up before wiping down the sheets. "It's okay. It's okay. Just rest up for now and get some food in you later." The brunette said as she gently held her sister's hand.

Luna found her hand squeezed lightly as she looked to her sister. "Luna?" Leni called weakly. "Why?"

"Why what?" Luna questioned in return.

Leni seemed to be forming the courage to ask what needed to be asked for several months. "Why did you burn that letter?" Her sister looked to her with shock in her eyes as the realization donned on her that someone else was watching. "It...it was from Lynn, wasn't...it?"

"You're talking crazy, Leni. You aren't thinking straight. Just get some rest." The younger sister tried to get up but found her elder sister suddenly possessed an alarming amount of strength in her grip even in her condition. It wasn't what you'd call superhuman but it got Luna's attention and stopped her from simply leaving the room. Luna didn't want to struggle for risk of hurting her, so she decided to put it to rest. "Fine, you want the truth? Yes it was from Lynn and I burned it. Burned the whole thing because I've got better things to worry about in my life than someone who never wanted to be here in the first place!"

Leni strained to keep her upright position. "Luna, we're all worried about her. She's our sister."

"Our sister?" Luna pulled her hand away and got up form her seat. "You always pull that. You always protected her. You and mom and dad and everyone else! She left us and she took Lincoln on top of it all." Luna pointed an accusing finger at the bedridden girl. "Lynn has never been anything other than trouble and all she is ever going to bring is trouble. Even someone as stupid as you should be able to see that!" Her last words hung in the air as the two became silent.

"Leni...I..." Luna could not find the words as her sister remained silent, her eyes cast down at the floor. "I'm...I'll be downstairs." She slowly left the room and closed the door behind her before heading down to the main floor of the house. The young woman threw herself down onto a chair in the kitchen as she threw her face into her hands. Why did she say that? It was one thing to talk down about Lynn, but Leni hadn't deserved that. It was true that Leni had never been the smartest. All the same she remembered growing up how many of the kids in town made fun of her elder sister. She remembered all the fights she would get into just to defend Leni when they would mock her and make her cry. If Luna would fight anyone for calling her sister stupid, then she had to ask herself why she would do it.

In the midst of her thoughts she heard Leni having another coughing fit. Luna went to the kitchen sink and filled up another glass with water to bring to her while she tried to find the right words to apologize. The coughing seemed to stop only to be followed by a loud thudding sound of something hitting the floor upstairs. "Leni? Leni?!" She instinctively raced back up the stairs, dropping the glass to the floor in the process. Luna flung open the door to find the horrible sight of Leni collapsed on the floor, the tray she left on the night stand knocked over with her sister wrapped in the blankets.

Luna wasted no time as she rushed over to her, dropping down to the floor, rolling her sister on her back and elevating Leni's head on her lap. "Leni?" She got no response as her sister's breaths were shallow, almost unnoticeable. "Leni! Leni, wake up! Don't do this to me Leni. Open your eyes, please." Luna lifted up her sister, bringing her head up to rest beside her own. She was surprised to feel a small grip on her hand as she looked over to see the blonde girl's eyes opened ever so slightly. "I need to go and get..." Luna's words ceased as her sister lightly shook her head.

"S...stay..." This was the last thing Leni managed to utter as she rested her head against Luna's.

As much as she wanted to rush down to the phone and call for help, she knew it would never arrive in time. If this was the end, the last thing Luna was going to do is let her sister face it alone. "Okay. Okay. I'm right here." Tears began to stream down Luna's face as she agreed, kissing Leni on her forehead and holding her hand as she rocked her back and forth. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything." The family would return several hours later to an eerily quiet home and would find Luna seated on the floor still holding Leni tightly in her arms.