/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Four

Reaching Bethlem Hospital, Tom jumped from the carriage before turning around and helping me down. Looking up at the hospital, I couldn't help but sigh. Such a dark place filled with desperate people. How I wished I could every single one of them, relieve them of their demons. But I had too little time and too little information. I couldn't save everybody.

Tom took my elbow gently, guiding me to the hospital doors. I took a deep breath, steadying myself. It would do no good for my father to see me in my nervous state.

"Are you quite all right, Gemma?" Tom asked me as we passed through the hospital doors.

I swallow and gave what I hoped was a convincing smile. "Quite all right, thank you, Tom."

"You seemed a bit nervous there a bit ago, I was hoping you weren't going to have a fainting spell," Tom continued on. "Such a place as Bethlem isn't for the faint of heart."

Inwardly I wanted to slap my brother across his face. He was such a prat sometimes. I swear no one else has to tolerate such an insufferable know-it-all.

"To be sure," I finally said, "but believe me one would need a stronger sense of self for the troubles endured at home."

Tom frowned at my sibling insults, but I couldn't help but smile at him. Occasionally he needed to be cut down to size. And who better than his own sister? Surely it was better hearing it from one's own flesh and blood rather than a complete stranger.

Winding through the corridors of the men's ward, I couldn't help but look into the windows of the passing doors as we walked passed. Some were pacing around their rooms, pulling their hair and scratching their faces. But most were sitting on the edge of their beds or on a chair, hugging themselves close and rocking back and forth. All of them had blank, slack faces, as if they had nothing more to hope for.

Shuddering at the sights, I forced myself to look straight ahead, not wanting to look into the despairing faces. Jumping slightly, I felt Tom tug gently on my arm.

"Are you sure you're quite alright, Gemma?" Tom asked, his face etched with concern.

"As right as I can be to know that my own dear, beloved father is locked in such a place of despair," I snapped, unable to take any more of Tom's pompous personality.

Tom frowned. "You could be a bit more cordial, Gemma. It wasn't my fault that I had to place him here. It was a necessity, for all of our sakes."

And there was the paradox of our lives. And what, dear brother, would you think if I told you my darkest secret of all? Would I, too, be condemned in your eyes?

Stopping at the end of the hall, Tom opened the door to our immediate right. Stepping just inside the room, I couldn't help but gasp in surprise. The room wasn't like any of the others. In fact, it seemed as if it could have been a part of our own home. Tom most certainly had to pull some strings for this to even come into existence.

Turning to Tom, I looked up into his handsome face. "How did you do all of this?"

A small hint of a smile on his face, Tom touched my shoulder briefly. "A lot of hard work in persuasion. Something you would probably never understand."

Perhaps not, but enough to know the compassion and hard work that Tom had to suffer through to get this far. A rush of love and compassion spread within me for my brother. Sometimes Tom became the brother I once knew.

"My darling Gemma," a hoarse voice said from across the room.

Turning toward the voice, my heart broke when I saw my father, as it had been for the past year or so. He was thin than he had once been, but I could see that he was starting to fill out once more. They were apparently working their miracles upon my father.

Tom cleared his throat. "I will be just outside if you need anything, Gemma."

I nodded my compliance and walked over to the bed, sitting down at the edge of it. Smiling as bravely as I could, I pushed back my father's long, ragged hair from his face. Apparently appearances mattered not in Bethlem, but it still hurt to see my father in this way.

"I see that you are well, Father," I said trying to make the conversation light.

Father smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes as it once did. "I have been better, dear child."

"I know you have, but you're better than you once were," I persisted.

Father chuckled. "You were always the optimistic one, Gemma. Just like your mother."

I smiled sadly. "I miss her so much, Father. Sometimes it's almost like I can feel her near me."

Suddenly, Father grabbed my wrist, clutching it hard. Gasping in surprise, I tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight. Pulling me close to him, he looked straight into my eyes. And in his own I could see something that I had never seen in his eyes before. It was fear.

"They are coming for you, Gemma," Father said, pulling me closer and becoming more manic. "Don't trust them, they will lie, and then, then they will find you."

Panicking, I cried out for Tom and seconds later, I found myself pulled free as Tom and two nurses wrestled my father back in bed. Horrified, I watched my father struggling against them desperately.

"Don't trust them, Gemma! For all our sakes!" Father cried out.

Satisfied that the nurses had it under control, Tom took me gently by the arm and led me slowly out the room and down the hall into the main room. And for once I couldn't protest, I was too much in a shock. What had my father become in the face of my enemies?

"Come, Gemma," Tom said gently, "let's get you home now."

"How long has he been like this?" I finally asked, coming to my senses.

"It had been a gradual process. He had only gotten this bad the past few weeks, but it had been going on since you went back to Spence after the holidays," Tom answered.

I nodded, unable to ask any more questions. I didn't want to know anymore. As we hurried back home in the carriage, I couldn't help but think one thing. My father and who knows how many other people were in trouble. And I didn't have much time to save the realms from total destruction.

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Author's Note: Chapter Four for everybody. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update this story, but I've been really busy and haven't had much time for fan fiction. I'm sure you all understand. I promise it'll get more interesting, but I had to set the stage.

Thank you to all who have updated so far, you don't know how much I appreciate the reviews, it keeps me going. I promise I'll update as soon as I can and don't forget to review, it makes the writer happy!