Hey everyone! Thanks for all your patience as this chapter truly took a long time to write. Unfortunately my computer crashed once before I could save this, so I ended up rewriting a decent chunk of it which didn't really help. Fortunately though, I'm a lot happier with how the second portion of the chapter turned out after rewriting, and I think it is a lot better than the first one. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy.

Guest: Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it!

LovetheLord: Thanks. I'm glad to be back, as sporadic as that can be.

RandomDragon2.0: Glad you like it! Thanks for reading.

She found it harder and harder to care for her husband and the woman as her illness increased. Eventually the husband began to heal. But as he returned to normal, the woman's symptoms escalated. She could hardly walk across the room without feeling faint, and the sores on her fingertips worsened causing searing pain whenever she bent them.

The woman cast a weary glance towards her child. How she hoped he would be alright after she was gone. Hopefully she would be able to see his third birthday.

How little time was left.

"Kai?" Nya opened the back door and joined her brother outside, "Can we please talk?"

"Fine," Kai gave in. He scorched over, making room for Nya on the step, "I'm sorry for earlier. I just needed to breathe."

"It's okay. We all did. I did drop a bit of a bombshell this morning," Nya took a seat beside him, "But Kai, I need you to be here. Up until yesterday my future I thought was certain. Jay and I were going to get married, buy a house, have three kids..."

"Whoa! Slow down! Who said I was going to let you marry that dork?" Kai interrupted, "Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?"

Nya laughed bitterly, "That's beside the point. But now, I don't even know how much longer I have."

"We'll figure it out, I promise," Kai assured her, "I know I wasn't exactly here for you today..."

"Exactly? You weren't here at all!" Nya interrupted.

"Whatever. But from now on, I'm here for you to talk. You know I love you sis?" Kai continued.

"Yeah. I do," Nya replied, "love you too, bro."

"Hey guys!" Cole burst through the door, "Since nobody really felt like cooking, we ordered pizza. It's in the kitchen if you want some!"

"Thanks Cole, we'll be there in a second!" Nya answered. She turned to Kai, "There's one more thing. I looked at the tracker on your phone. I know where you went earlier. Just make sure you know what you're doing."

"I will, don't worry," Kai smirked, "let's go join the others."

The others sat wearily around the table eating their pizza when Kai and Nya joined them. Nya wedged between Jay and Cole who rapidly filled her in on what they'd found since she had gone outside.

Kai listened from the outside gathering bits and pieces of what the rest of the team had discovered that day. The disease was called Holgaria, and although its origins were unknown, it was proven to be spread through kissing. Mostly men were affected by it, but all the woman that did contract it died. Symptoms included wheezing, producing a greenish form, sores and scabbing around the fingertips fevers, a severe chills and weakness. Kai shivered at the sound of it all. He certainly wasn't looking forward to coming down with this disease.

What scared him more was Nya. She looked completely healthy, everyone did, but he had no idea how or when the disease would strike. Should the ninja have Nya admitted to the hospital? No, Kai decided. Nya would never be able to sit still waiting to die. It just wasn't her, and Kai wanted more than anything for Nya to be happy.

As dinner came to a close, Jay took Nya by the hand and dragged her outside. Since the news that morning, everyone with the exception of Kai hadn't left Nya alone. Jay could tell by Nya's weary expressions that she could use some space.

"How are you holding up?" Jay asked as they sat down.

Nya winced, "I just want everything to go back to normal."

"Me too."

Nya leaned against Jay's shoulder and closed her eyes, "This was not the way I hoped our story would go."

They stayed there for a while. Jay held Nya close, "I'll stay with you, for as long as it takes. We'll figure this out."

Nya smiled. At some point Nya fell asleep. Jay picked her up and brought her inside and laid her on her bed, "Sleep well Nya. Stay healthy," Jay whispered. I can't stand to lose you again.

Nya exhaled softly and turned her head. Jay grinned and placed a kiss on her forehead while promising himself to never forget the way Nya smiled in her sleep or the soft rhythm of her breath.

"I love you, Nya."

(Time skip)

She laid awake that night nauseated. She threw off her covers in a fit of heat then quickly pulled them back over herself as shivers took over her body. No matter what way she turned, she couldn't get comfortable. Her head throbbed and her throat was chalky. It felt a weight sat on her chest, squeezing it so her breathing was shallow. The raw tips of her fingers left red stains along the edges of her sheets. She wanted more then anything to escape this, to escape her body, to drift to sleep and never wake up until this was over.

She wanted to claw away at her own flesh the way one would pick a scab until she was free.

She didn't have the strength to do any of that, so she laid there limp until the early morning when she felt a mist surround her. She figured it was her imagination.

"Just let this end," she pleaded with the mist. "I want this to end."

The mist envelopes her, filling her lungs and burning her insides.

This was not how she imagined it. She'd imagined quick and painless, but this, this was agonizing. This was choking her, burning her. Every little spike of pain she felt.

She couldn't stand it. This was worse than the disease.

She opened her mouth, and with what strength she had left, screamed until no noise came out of her throat any longer.

"Nya! Nya wake up!" Kai shouted. He shook his sister gently, but she wouldn't stop screaming.

Nya opened her eyes and looked past Kai and Jay, who were both holding her hands, past the remaining ninja gathered at her door trying to figure out what was going on, into nothing.

"Nya, you're scaring me!" Kai shouted, "What's going on?" The way Nya's eyes met his but were looking through him sent shivers down his spine. It was like she saw him but not really.

Nya's eyes slowly came into focus. She examined her hands for scabbing and found none, although she saw they were unblemished, she still shook violently. She gasped for breath and tried to calm herself.

"It's okay Nya," Jay barely whispered, "You were only dreaming. None of it's real."

Nya shook her head. She thought back to the ending of the Muse story she'd read earlier, the woman's gruesome death at the end. "No, it was real."

#God's Not Dead!