Okay guys, Hope you all had fun with that chapter. Lol. I'm a sadistic bastard.

Anyways guys, you may be wondering.

'JC what the fuck? Why you pulling this shit?!"

Well the truth is guys, sometimes the bad guys win.

Don't get me wrong, I still plan on making this story mostly about self improvement, positive outcomes, and all that good stuff.

But no one ever got far in life because they had a worry free life. Conflict and struggle is just a part of human development as achievement is.

I wuld recommend reading 'The hero with a thousand faces' by Joseph Campbell. It accurately depicts the heros journey through comparative mythology and how it relates to our own experiences in life.

Also check out the bible in a year podcast by Ascension Presents with Fr. Mike Schmitz. That podcast has been useful for my own return to the faith.

Winter couldn't believe she had left her scroll in Jem's room. But she couldn't get too irritated with herself, after all her boyfriend was currently in the hospital. No one could blame her for being absent minded. But still, she was an Atlesian Specialist. She shouldn't have lost her attention to detail so easily. She just hoped Jem would wake up soon. He wasn't in a coma, but the stress on his body had certainly taken its toll. So he was just taking a long nap.

She still couldn't believe everything that had happened. Jem had been injured badly before. But he always seemed to pull himself back together. It was a miracle he had made it this far without anything serious. He was one of the luckiest guys she knew. How many other people could fight off a horde of Grimm during an invasion and then win an election in a kingdom he wasn't even a citizen of?

Jem truly was an interesting person. And she had no doubt he would pull through.

If she walked into his room and he was awake. She would be happier than she had ever been.

Sadly her blood soon ran cold as she flipped on the light to Jem's Room.

Only to see his arm laying limp off the bed.

And a woman standing over him.

Something in Winter just snapped.

She didn't remember screaming at the top of her lungs.

She didn't remember lunging forward at the woman.

She didn't remember smashing the woman's head against the all.

Over

and over

and over again.

She only came to her senses when she realized her hands were getting wet and warm.

She looked down at the twitching body of the woman on the ground.

"JEM!" She screamed as she suddenly remembered the reason why she came.

Nurses and Doctors heard the commotion and were horrified to see the bloody woman on the ground, and Winter desperately performing CPR.

(Play Murphys Body: Ghost Ship)

"COME ON!" She yelled as she was doing chest compressions before taking a break to breath into his mouth.

She gave him a quick breath and went back to Chest compressions.

CRACK

She could hear the sounds of his ribs cracking as she tried desperately to bring him back to life.

"Out of the way!" A doctor said as some nurses tried to restrain Winer.

"NO!" She yelled as some doctors immediately took over her job.

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" Winter at this point was manic.

She had already thought he was dead once today. She was not going to deal with his actual death now. Whitley had heard the screaming from outside and rushed into the hospital. All he saw was Jem's body laying lifeless on the hospital bed as Winter was huddled in the corner surrounded by Nurses who were desperately trying to get her to calm down.

"What the hell happened?!" He went over to Winter who had her arms in front of her face almost like she was trying to desperately hold on to something.

One of the doctors took Whitley outside.

"Sir, we don't know what happened. We came in to see that woman laying dead on he ground, and Miss Schnee here desperately performing CPR." Whitley looked back at his sister.

"Are...Are either one of them going to be alright?" Whitley asked as Jem was legally dead, and Winter was...

Winter almost seemed to have had a psychotic break.

"...Sir I think its best you go home..."

"You're asking me to leave family?" He got a little pissed at that.

"Sir, having you here would not help. We're going to try and do everything we can to help both of them." The doctor said as he went back in the room as the doctors were switching between using CPR, a breathing apparatus, and a Defibrillator.

All while they were desperately trying to get Winter out of the room, but she refused to leave Jem.

One of the nurses had to inject her with a Tranquilizer just to get her to calm down.

"..." Whitley reluctantly turned away.

As much as he hated to admit it, the doctor was right. He wasn't any use here.

He still couldn't believe it. He had never seen his sister like that. No matter what their father did to her growing up. She had never once let him get to her. But seeing her like that on the floor of the hospital. He had never seen someone look so broken in his life. Not even his mother during her drunkest days could compare to what Winter looked like now. It was like her entire life had shattered in front of her.

Whitley never wanted to see that look on someone's face again.

The look that the light had gone out of your life.

Back at the house

Whitley was not looking forward to this. He was hoping to come back with Winter so that things could be relatively normal. Jem was going to live, Nala would have her mom back for the night. And then they would all go and see Jem in the hospital when he woke up. But now, he wasn't sure what to tell them. Winter had called Nala and said she would be home tonight. That was going to make this harder for him to say.

How was he going to tell Nala? She would have questions. Why didn't her mom come home? How was her dad doing?

How was he going to look that little girl in the eyes and tell her that her dad may not be home again? And worse, how was he going to explain Winter's nervous breakdown? He swallowed the lump in his throat as he opened the door.

"Uncle Whitley!" Nala yelled as she ran over and hugged him.

"Hey Nala..." He said as she hugged him tightly, almost as if he would disappear.

"...Where's mommy? She said she was coming home?" Those words felt like Whitley was getting stabbed in the heart.

"Your mom got really sick from all the stress she's under, so they're keeping her overnight..." It wasn't technically a lie, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth.

"What about daddy?" Whitley had to do everything he could to stop himself from shaking.

"Hes..." Whitley didn't want to say it.

Jem was a tough bastard. But he didn't want to lie to Nala. But he didn't want to tell her the truth.

But he had hope.

He just hoped that hope wasn't misplaced.

RING RING

He looked at his scroll.

He saw it was from the hospital. He didn't want to answer it. He was scared of what was on the other end. Because depending on what he heard. He was either about to save his Niece, or break her heart completely.

With shaking hands, he answered the call and put it up to his ear.

"H-Hello?" He asked with a trembling voice.