A/N: Okay, this might be a rather pointless chapter lol. I'm dragging this out X'D
Thank you Dr. Serpico for your review(s)! I'm keeping a close eye on the stats of this story just to see how many people are still out there in this fandom and I'm sad to announce that there are not many. Sure the movie wasn't /that/ bad :')
As it turned out, luck really wasn't on their side and if it were a person they would have laughed in joy at their current situation. Will's detached legs were in fact useless and if Jake were to go by his brother's expression, he could tell they might have been someone else's indeed. Though his brother's unusual small feet were too recognizable for a theory that absurd.
Conclusion was that, yes, there was magic involved and that no, beans wouldn't be able to fix it. As per usual. Eventually they decided to play it safe and leave town as fast as possible.
"Odd." Will muttered as Jake half dragged half carried him towards his horse.
"What?" Jacob asked, his voice was strained with the weight of his brother.
"You must free what is not actually dead." Will quoted. He hadn't told Jake about the girl, but he had to admit, his interests were piqued.
"Did you hit your head? We can't. Those people are most definitely dead." Jake answered him once they got to the horses. "How are we going to do this, now?" He asked no one specifically. Will was looking at his brother, a bewildered glance enhancing his blue, piercing, eyes.
"Why would you think it was about the town's people?" Will asked. Jacob put him down carefully and rested him against the wooden wall next to their horses. Will was starting to feel queasy, his stomach was turning in ways he never knew was possible for an organ to turn.
"I'm sorry, what were you talking about?" Jake asked. He looked around until he spotted the haystacks. With as much strength he could muster, he started to drag the largest towards Wilhelm.
"I don't know." Will stated wearily. Jacob halted his efforts and stared at him for the longest of moments.
"Are you feeling alright?" Jake asked when he noted the rapidly paling face of his brother. When Will didn't answer, Jacob crouched down so he could get a better grip on him. In a less-than-manly way he managed to heft Wilhelm onto his horse. "I'm going to tie my horse to yours, I won't risk you falling off." Jake said. He knew he wouldn't get an answer, Will had been strangely unresponsive in the last ten minutes, but they had to leave this town or else it might get worse. At least, that's what Jacob suspected. Perhaps they ought to go back to Marbaden where they could rest plenty. The people there treated them as kings, sure they would welcome them back with thick warm blankets and food. A lot of food. That made Jake think. They needed food.
Jacob climbed onto Will's horse where his brother had fallen into a light slumber, his form slouched over the horse's neck. The animal itself had an air of boredom looming over them, its tranquil expression almost worried Jake if it hadn't reacted to its owner slowly sliding off, alerting Jake successfully.
"Good gods, Will." Jacob muttered. He was gripping Will's by the shoulder which allowed Jake to feel the heat rising off of his face. "That's definitely not normal." He noted panicky. He glanced at the door longingly before he drifted his gaze towards the window and the darkening sky. He settled his eyes back on Will, unsure of what to do. Going out there could kill him. Staying in there might kill them both. "At least you won't suffer alone." Jake grunted as he got off the horse. He weighed their options one last time. It was he who needed to decide for once. Perhaps it wasn't even so bad outside and if they were fast enough, they might get to Marbaden in a day or two. Once they were out of town, they would enter a place where the sun hung high in the sky, spreading its warmth like a blanket.
This time, Jacob got on the horse with a sense of finality. They would get out of there.
"Jake?" Will's voice sounded quiet, a suppressed whimper caught in his brother's throat, an action that didn't get lost on the other's ears.
"I'm right here." Jake answered. The horse moved towards the doorway, its breath notably getting more visible.
" 's cold." Will complained. Jacob closed his eyes, but let his feet and hands do whatever was necessary to get out of town faster. The horse sped up, only slightly hindered by its companion which was carrying all of their belongings.
"I know. Try and hold on, Will." Jake sighed when his brother didn't reply, but all he couldn't do anything about the cold. It was a force that couldn't be fought against. It pried until it settled deep into its enemy; warmth.
The shadows of dusk were starting to settle and they were still caught in the icy claws of the dead town. Jake feared they must have gotten lost, Will was the one who always led them through towns and forests.
"We lost?" Came Wilhelm's timely question. His voice seemed less distant, Jake noted.
"That depends, are you going to yell at me?" Jacob asked, a grimace set over his face in preparation for the inevitable.
"Have I ever?" Will asked, a hint of a huff followed his question. Jake smiled at the soft sound, his concern momentarily forgotten.
"We haven't eaten yet." Jacob noted sullenly.
"Perhaps there's something over that bridge." Will said gesturing towards something in the thick fog.
"What bridge?" Jake asked, his expression one of hope.
"The one made of beans." Will said, his gaze distant and faraway. He was looking at something only he could see. Jacob, who was sitting behind him, couldn't see the expression of amazement. He pulled the rein and the horses halted, their steady path forward breached.
"Will, what are you impl…" He trailed off when he took a better look. Sure enough, there was a bridge. It wasn't made of beans, but it was certainly the same bridge they had used to enter the town. "…ying?" Jacob finished. A thud resounded in the silence of the darkness. Jake looked down to see a book, one he hadn't seen before.
"My book fell." Will simply said, looking down at the worn cover. His name was written in curly letters, a handwriting so unique, Jake knew who it belonged to even if he would have grown up not being able to read. Nevertheless, he learned how to read and write and he had every intention of using those abilities to the fullest.
"I'll get it." Jake said. He quickly looked at the bridge, just to make sure it was still there and it was. He retrieved the book, its back was covered in mud. No matter, their exit lay before their very eyes and yet they were being stalled by a book. Probably an empty one at that. Will wasn't a writing type. Book clutched to his chest, Jake walked the horses towards the bridge. If asked, he would have shamelessly admitted to being scared their freedom would disappear if they stalled much longer.
They were closing in on the bridge, a warmth was spreading like fire. Jake moved forward, the horses being guided by the warming hands of one of their owners, the other laying in an unmoving heap on his own horse. They crossed the bridge, the hooves of both horses resounded eerily. The landscape of fog and ice fell away as did the ceasing, steady, sound of Will's breath.
"Jake." Will called out softly. "Jake." He tried again when he failed to gain his brother's attention.
"We're out." Jake said genuinely happy. He looked back at Wilhelm and paled at what he saw. He'd taken on an ashen color, his eyes were sunken and his breathing sounded shallow. Jacob gasped and looked back and forth between his brother and the bridge. How did that happen so fast?! He started panicking, rocking back and forth on his heels as he decided what he was going to do next.
"Back." Will said weakly. He made a vague gesture towards the foggy bridge, clearly indicating that he wanted to go back across.
"Why? Will." Jacob asked with tears in his eyes.
"Save them, save me." He muttered. Was that it? Was that what needed to be done? Had the girl been an echo left by the people who once resided there? Had she died because of the same illness that had befallen him? Will could only try and guess. Theories formed inside his head, his mind taken for a dance swirling with unspoken words.
"Promise me you won't leave me." Jacob demanded. Will gave a short, curt, nod. A nod that calmed the raging worry inside Jacob. He knew it could have been an empty promise, words left to guess, replaced by a voiceless nod of the head. The crossed the bridge once more, Jake felt the cold settle while the warmth left in fleeting fright at the sudden intruder. Will's expression however seemed void of pain and his ashen face found some color at last. It would have been intriguing would it not have been for the clarity it contributed to their situation. They couldn't leave a town covered in ice. They were forced to either save it, die trying or die trying to get out. At least Will was. Jacob during all this, could walk out just like that if he had the heart to leave his brother. Of course he didn't so he considered Will's unfortunate predicament his own. It almost made him feel sick.
Another few hours of aimless wandering, they found shelter where they also found food. Curled up in two too thin blankets, Will had allowed himself to drift off into the arms of Morpheus. That is, if he believed in any god at all. For him, sleep really didn't feel like a warm embrace of a god of sleep, it felt like the hands of death were hovering above him. Jake entered the kitchen of the small cottage they had taken refuge in. He wasn't aware he was still holding Wilhelm's book until he opened a cabinet so he could try and warm something up. First a fire. He thought as an afterthought. He laid the book down and went to the living room where he lit a fire. Next he would take a look at that book. Jake had been wondering why he hadn't seen it before, they had traveled together for a long time after all. He turned page after page, finding it less than empty. He read pieces and bits of what he could tell were musings of what ought to be trivial things in life, but what obviously fueled his brother's writing. Jacob decided to read a bit, his eyes unable to tear away from the handwriting that was obviously his brother's.
'What if there were no colors apart from the sky? What do colors inflict upon the human mind? Would there be only greys to compare or would the sky cast a reflection of its true soul and give us the most beautiful reflection? But still, that impression would be a mere mirage because the trees wouldn't be blue after all. They would be grey. Our eyes, would be black. Endless garrisons of emotions we wouldn't know how to express for there are no colors to link them to. Life would be dull even though we wouldn't know a world with colors. Would there be any form of elation or would it be a distant feeling of detachment mixed with the unconscious suppression of euphoria? It's an ever unanswered question for there are colors all around us, and those who do not see at all, can only link it to words. Yet, they are happy. Does one truly need colors in order to survive a world of dullness yet unsightly greys and endless skies of blue as their only knowledge?
Could it be that colors represent happiness and guide our brains in maintaining this so-called happiness even though we often forsake its true intentions in helping us withstand the hardship of life? While the fading colors would indicate a distance put between what is absolute and what is but a fraction of the reality your brain is withholding behind blanched colors?
There is no answer to a question without prove of an alternate reality. A reality feared upon and cast sideways. Understandably so.'
It almost scared Jake. He tore his eyes off of the book, a heavy feeling pressed down on his chest.
"There are colors." Jake nodded to himself in a reassuring manner. How could there be a world without? Jake shook the image out of his head. Food. They needed food.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
A/N: The 'color' thing was something I wrote at least a year ago, perhaps a bit less than a year, but it's close enough ö