Disclaimer: see chapter 1&2. you know the drill…

Ch4

Jacob thought he felt the sun on his face. Of Course, once he opened his eyes he realized his senses were deceiving him. He was still so tired, his eyes hurt and his clothes felt very heavy. All he could see was fog. His shoulders were cramped and he was stretched out. Then it hit him, the boat couldn't possibly be big enough to have him stretched out and still have Will in it. Jake sat up abruptly. He looked around desperately; from behind him he was sure he heard a splash. He twisted around as best he could; frightened Will was drowning or… any number of horrible fates. To his initial shock, he came face to face with Will. He gasped happily, and half pounced on Will. Will laughed merrily and hugged his little brother tightly.

"Hey," he whispered. "how're you feeling?" Jake held onto Will, holding his brothers shirt, while still holding his book, though he didn't realize it.

"tired… but I'll live." Will looked grim. "what?"

"You were asleep for about a day and half. I was getting worried."

"Oh…" Jake tightened his grip on Will. "Will…" Jake pulled away from Will's embrace, and Will let him go, though reluctantly. Once Jake had settled himself in across the boat, he continued. "Thanks… for pulling me out of the water," he said shyly.

"You're lucky I did… I could barely see you and… the water was so heavy and you were so hard to drag out. I swear," he laughed insincerely. "It was like you were fighting against me."

"If I was…" Jake had realized that while Will had meant to sound light and uncaring, Jake hadn't been fooled. "I didn't mean to. But-"He cut himself off, just now realizing he was clutching his soggy book to his chest. He stared at it for a long moment, before setting it up on end in the middle of the boat. "It's wet," He explained. "I hope the ink didn't run too much…I'm still pretty damp too, actually…" He tugged off his boots, then his socks and wrung them out. A thick, tar like glop dripped from them. He groaned. "My feet were in that for a day and a half?" Will chuckled and nodded. Jake looked disgusted. He continued stripping off his clothes and wringing them out, this time over the side of the boat. "I can't believe the water was that thick…" Will nodded his head thoughtfully.

"I tried to get your wet clothes off you, because you know how badly you react to colds, "Jake rolled his eyes. "But you wouldn't let me." Will shrugged the thought off. Jake blushed furiously. Finally, Jake sat in his end of the boat in just his under-shorts, shivering slightly. Most of his clothes were laying carefully over the edge of the boat, so they wouldn't touch the water, but also so they could drip out. The brothers had noticed that Jakes clothes seemed significantly wetter once they weren't on him anymore. Jake pulled his knees to his torso. Will watched him suffer silently, before laughing and pulling off his heavy overcoat. "Here, Jake. Wrap up." Jake wrapped his brother's coat around him tightly, closing his eyes and savoring the warmth.

"It's awfully cold…I'm still very tired," Jake sighed and leaned back.

"Try not to fall asleep, alright?" Will shook his finger at Jake. "You were asleep for over a day, and all that time I was afraid you weren't going to wake up. I'd rather not have to worry about that…" He hesitated. "Just… try to stay awake until we figure out a way out of this fog. Agreed?" He smiled. Jake nodded slowly.

"Alright… Will…" He faded off.

"What?"

"You realize we haven't eaten anything in days?" Jake said softly.

"Yes, Jacob, I do. I've been trying not to think about it." He put his head in his hands, and ruffled his hair. He whimpered. "I don't know what we're going to do, Jake…"

"We'll… we'll figure something out… it's not time to worry yet, brother." He grinned and patted Will on the shoulder.

"Jacob… tell me one of your stories…" Jakes face brightened.

"Really, Will?" His voice was bursting with excitement.

"Yes… Tell me one with a happy ending." Jake thought for a moment. "Just not that one with the incest, that's disgusting."

"You mean All Kinds of Fur?"

"Yea, that one. Just tell me a happy story." Jake sat in thought.

"Well, Wilhelm… none of them is entirely happy."

"Why not? Why can't they be cheerful all the time for once?" Jake was at a loss. Finally, he replied, "because…They wouldn't be very interesting, would they?"

"But… in that one… All Kinds of Fur? Why incest, Jake? Of all things, it's just… disgusting."

"Yes… Do you think I should change the beginning then?" Now it was Will's turn to sit quietly and think.

"n-no…."He said slowly. "If you changed the beginning, the rest wouldn't really make sense... So… no. don't change it." Jake smiled.

"So… I guess I can't tell you a story, then, can I?" Will laughed, and nodded.

"No… I suppose not…" It was quiet for a while, but not an awkward quiet. The silence was comfortable and complete, only occasionally disturbed when Jake would ruffle his coat. "Ah…Jake… about Angelika…"Jake glared at him without meaning to. "I'm not trying to steal her from you or anything…"

"Even if you were," Jake paused for dramatic effect. "I wouldn't care." He looked away.

"Yes you would! Jake, don't lie to me! We've worked so hard lately to know each other and... and... To understand each other and be better brothers. Jake, I don't want us to throw all that away over a girl."

"She's not just 'a girl'!" Jake burst out. "I love her, Will! Why don't you understand that? I love her more than I've ever loved a woman before. This is true love here, Will, and I know you don't believe in all that, but it's true this time! I love her, and every time you're near her… I just… you… You hit on her! I know you don't mean to, sometimes, that it's just the way you are, but… It hurts, Will… It's like… like…" He slumped back, frustrated. He felt so immature suddenly, having yelled at Will like that. Will was always there for him, protecting him and taking care of him… Jake sighed. Nothing ever went quite right. "Will…I…" He felt the temperature drop dramatically. Shivering, he continued, "I'm sorr-"

"Jake. No." Will wrapped his arms around himself to warm up, but his teeth were still chattering. "D-don't apologize. I…I should've been more considerate of your feelings… and… all of that. Angelika loves us both, and… I shouldn't have tugged at her like that. I don't want to tear apart everything we have now." Jake nodded solemnly. After a moment Will said through shattering teeth, "Why is it so goddamn c-cold?" Jake felt his clothes, praying they would be dry enough to put back on. They weren't. He wondered how Will could complain about being cold when he had on at least three layers, and Jake was wearing just a badly insulated overcoat.

"It's the fog… It's got to be…" His hands were shaking. He reached for his book, still perched in the middle of the boat. He snatched it up, eager to return his arm back to the slight warmth inside the igloo of Wills oversized coat. He flicked through the pages once, noticing happily, curious as it was, that none of the ink had smeared or run or been in anyway disrupted. He couldn't really read the words, lacking his glasses, but he could tell every letter was crisp and where it belonged. The temperature seemed to fall again. Will grabbed Jakes arm and tugged him to the center of the boat. Will joined him, and the pair huddled together. The air felt icy around them, their breath came in misty clouds. "Will… What're we…Will?" Jake looked towards his brother.

Will had his eyes clinched shut and he was grinding his teeth slightly. His one hand clutched his chest, the other dug into his thigh. His breath was shaky and shallow.

"Will? What's happening? What's wrong?"

"Nothing big, Jake." Will hissed. It was obvious that this was not 'nothing'. Jake watched his brothers pain, unable to help.

"Oh, Will…" Jake gingerly held Wills shoulder, rubbing his thumb over the soft velvet of Wills jacket.

Finally, the pain passed, and Will sat panting, Jake still holding onto him… but tighter now.

"Will… what was that?" Jake said quietly, the worry in his voice sincere. Will didn't answer. "Wilhelm Grimm, tell me what happened."

"Jacob… You… In the forest, when I let you stab me? You remember that, of course." Jake nodded. "Ever since…I've been having little… fits like this. Just now and then. At first, they were just little tinges, but they've been getting worse for weeks now…"Anticipating his little brothers upcoming question, he said, "I didn't tell you about it because I didn't want to worry you. So my chest hurts once in a while, so what? I'm perfectly healthy the rest of the time." Jake was worried, but he knew better than to argue. It wouldn't get him anywhere, and he never won fights against Will anyway. Will grinned and gave Jake a playful punch on the shoulder. "Stop worrying so much. You'll be old before you know it, why don't you spend your youth having fun?" Jake smiled.

"I just don't want you to die, that's all." He said quietly. "I hope that's not too much to ask… of course, maybe it is a silly thing to worry about after all…" He joked. His feet felt numb, he dimly wondered if he was imagining it.

The boat jolted. Will and Jake stiffened.

"What was that?"

The row-boat suddenly tipped backwards, sending the boys out of the boat, their feet over their heads. They hit the icy cold water and sunk quickly. The water was heavy, opaque… the brothers lost track of each other fast. Will struggled to try and swim, but no matter how hard he tried he could find neither the surface of the water or his brother. Jake, meanwhile, had gone completely numb. Something drew him to open his eyes, and there, clear as day, was the same golden ring he had seen before. He stared at it, just as entranced as before, and as he eyed it, a thin hand appeared, the ring fit snugly around its third finger. At first it was transparent, but it slowly solidified. Following the appearance of the hand was the appearance of an arm, and then the shoulder and finally a womans head emerged from the darkness. She was beautiful, yet frightening. Pale and gaunt, her dark eyes popped from beneath a mess of long, dark hair.

She reached towards Jake and, from quite a distance, Will watched, horrified. He wanted badly to do something.

'Jhay-kob…' The whisper floated around him. Will could see Jake staring at the mysterious woman. Her hand was mere centimeters from his face.

Jake watched this woman reaching toward him, and all of the sudden, she was behind him, her chin on his shoulder. Her long, thin hands wrapped around his body, her fingers stroked his chin. Her hair tickled his face.

"Jacob!" Will yelled. He lost all the air in his lungs, and he could feel himself start to drown.

Jake barely heard his brothers call, but it was enough to snap him out of the trance he was in. rapidly his chest started to burn. He blinked and when he opened his eyes again, dark eyes met his. They pleaded with him.

Will's vision blurred. He lost consciousness, silently hoping Jake would be alright.

Jacob felt the womans touch on his lips, and everything went black.

XOxoxo

This chapters a little longer, hope you liked it! I do. It's pretty okay. More soon, hopefully. Love,-me.