Chilled air rustled through soft hazel hair and Wirt's eyes flickered slightly and opened. Immediately screwing them shut again as the powerful sunlight seemed to burn his retina's. Wirt took a moment to adjust and blink through the abnormally bright daylight. A forest filled his surroundings, blanketed in patches of shimmering white snow that had begun to melt. Confused and still hazy, the boy sat in peaceful quiet staring at his surroundings. There was a gentle sound of snow melt dripping from trees, rustling of newly sprouting plants against the breeze, and morning birds singing songs in the distance. The sounds and sensation around him helped clear away the lingering haze and Wirt blinked, finally recognizing everything as real and present. He began to push himself up from the ground using the thick oak tree he was sitting against for support but a sharp pain shot through his body and Wirt collapsed again to the ground, grabbing his right side tightly. When the pain subsided enough, Wirt pushed himself upright to lean against the tree and looked down to inspect what was wrong.

Wirt's hand shot to cover his mouth and he gagged. The sight was gruesome, there was quite literally a hole in his side. It was big enough to maybe fit a small fist but somehow that wasn't the worst part. Wirt closed his eyes, unable to keep looking at it. It was discolored, all the exposed flesh and innards looked, in a way, chared, everything was black. A small amount of entrails were hanging out of his body, those too were a dark discoloration. But Wirt slowly calmed down as he realized despite how bad it looked he really didn't feel that much pain, or it was painful but not as painful as something like this probably should be. Wirt honestly didn't know how he was alive, this kind of thing looked very fatal if left untreated, which it was.

This whole situation finally slotted into place and made Wirt realize he was definitely in the unknown. That was the only way to explain why he wasn't on the verge of death, or maybe he was? But he didn't feel like it at least. Either way, confusing terrifying and unexplained things meant the unknown. Wirt looked down at his hands, trying to recall his last memories and what had led to this and slowly they came, jumbled and disjointed pieces: his brother, the beast, the deal, the refusal, the water, the claws, the fear, drowning. Wirt held his head, taking in a shaky breath. There were pieces but the memories were so scattered and full of emotions, he couldn't quite get the full picture.

"Did I die?..."

Wirt's eyes became glossy and his shoulders shook. His thoughts whirled around, thinking of everything he wanted to do and everyone he had wanted to talk to. The things he thought he could do better. Sarrah, his mom, his step-dad, Greg…

Oh god Greg…

Wirt desperately wracked his brain, trying to recall if his brother was safe. The feeling of tiny hands flooded back to him, and Wirt remembered how his brother had tried to help but Wirt when he was pulled under Greg's grip slipped and he had let go.

A sigh of relief escaped and Wirt slumped against the tree. Greg was safe.

Wirt observed his surroundings again. For the place that had seemed to terrorize him for the week he was previously lost here, everything felt so much calmer. He could almost be tempted to let his eyes close and drift into a dreamless sleep, maybe even one that he didn't have to wake up from. But Wirt shook his head and carefully pushed his body up, leaning almost entirely on the tree for support. He grunted with pain and his hand shot to his side. He knew it wasn't as painful as it should've been but it was still a fucking hole in his side and hurt. Even the unkown's "unkowness" Wirt knew his injury was bad and would maybe kill him if he didn't figure out how to fix it. Also, aside from the hole, Wirt found the rest of his body to be not much better off. He felt sore everywhere and his lungs burned. His head ached and his eyes still stung a little from the light even after getting adjusted. Wirt knew he couldn't just sit around here or it would definitely get worse, he needed food, shelter, water and just help.

Luckily because of his experience, Wirt was not completely lost this time around and he knew a few people that could help. Wirt sighed, he knew Greg hadn't been dragged back here like he had and he was glad for it, but still a piece of his heart ached for his brother's uplifting company especially in scary, confusing situations like this.

As Wirt prepared to set off in a random direction, using a large stick on the ground he found to help stabilized himself and take the pressure off his aching body. A glimmer of light caught Wirt's eye and he turned to see sitting in the snow a couple feet behind him was a very familiar eerie lantern.

.

The harsh smell of hand sanitizer wafted into the boys mouth as his eyes slowly fluttered opened. Greeted by a white ceiling, white walls, and white lights the small boy slowly pushed himself up from the spongy mattress.

"Greg!"

Warm arms tightly enveloped him, and Greg slowly recognized who it was.

"Dad?"

"Oh my son, how are you feeling? I'm so glad you're okay."

Greg blinked and wrapped his arms around his father. "I'm okay dad, I had a really cool adventure! We saw pumpkin people, and a bluebird and ate potatoes and molasses," Greg began recounting his experiences, his mind slightly fuzzy, "and Wirt was there! He defeated a Gorilla and a beast!" Greg blinked and looked around as his father released him from the hug.

"Speaking of which, where is that brother o' mine?"

A soft sigh caused Greg to look back at his dad's sad eyes.

"Greg, do remember anything that happened before you woke up?"

Greg scrunched up his face and look thoughtful for a minute, "Uh, there was Wirt and we were going home and…" Greg trailed off looking strained, "I think we were in water? And Wirt he-he was being pulled!" Greg's eyes widened and he suddenly recalled very clearly what had happened. "The beast grabbed him and I had to go get help! Sara was there and her friends, they all helped!" Greg cried out, his story spilling out quickly. "Wirt was hurt, is he okay?" Greg's eyes began to water and he looked at his dads sad face.

His dad hugged him again, "Yes that's right Greg, and you did a good job helping your brother, he's okay but he was underwater for a while…" Greg's dad paused for a minute trying to figure out how to explain the situation for a little kid who didn't need any more stress, " he fell asleep, he hasn't woken up yet and we don't know when he will."

.

This explanation left Greg very confused though, "Why can't we just wake him up though? I know Wirt likes to sleep in but if you jump on him a little he always gets up and starts yelling at me!" Greg suggested helpfully.

Greg's father just sighed again and shook his head, "No Greg, he- he's very deeply asleep, it's not something we can just wake him up from."

Greg still didn't quiet get it but decided not to question further because his dad seemed pretty upset about the whole thing.

There was a creak and both Greg and his dad turned to look at the door as Greg's mom and a lady in a long white coat walked in.

"Mom!" Greg yelled happily and his mom came a gave him another tight hugg.

"Oh honey, I'm so glad your okay," She said that, but her voice didn't sound very glad, rather she seemed very gloomy. Greg's dad gently rubbed her back as she let go of Greg.

Wheels rolled across the white tiled floor and the woman in the white coat sat on one of those fun rolly chairs and started talking to Greg.

"Hi Greg, I'm Dr. Peters, can you tell me how your feeling?" She spoke in a friendly voice that reminded Greg of his favorite second grade teacher.

"Hi, I feel good!" Greg paused thoughtfully, "But I'm kind of confused where we are and what happened to Wirt?"

Greg's mothers face fell at that last question.

"That's good and Wirt's doing okay," the doctor responded gently, "He's asleep right now but he's healthy."

Greg nodded, remembering what his dad said.

"Can I go see him?" He asked hopefully.

"Not right now, but you can in a few days, hopefully your brother will wake up very soon," she said the last bit more quietly and Greg saw his mother's eyes begin to glisten. He stayed quiet but he was beginning to feel a little scared at how all the adults were describing Wirts 'sleep'. He opened his mouth and the question formed in his mind, but something stopped it from asking it.

The doctor gave him a look, "Is there anything else you want to ask Greg?"

"...No"

"Alright then let's move on, I have a few more questions for you, just do your best to answer and you can say you don't know…" The doctor continued on with her question and Greg responded truthly all the while his unasked question burrowed into his mind.

'Wirt will wake up, right?'